Novo Aetas
by GD-7
Summary: Morgana was dead. Horvath had disappeared. Things could go back to normal now, right?
1. Serendipity

A/N – This story takes place starting just after the closing scene of the movie when David and Becky flew off on the metal eagle. This is rated Mature for many very good reasons. Warning: contains graphic imagery, severe injury to major characters, disturbing subjects and eventually I'm sure there will be sexual situations both straight and (inevitably with me) slash. I will try to put a warning at the top of anything particularly graphic, but just assume the first couple of chapters are going to be a bit harrowing. I am making the chapters shorter than my usual because I don't expect this one will go nearly as long as other stories I've written. Then again, Flight of the Thestrals was supposed to be a ten chapter fluff piece and look how that turned out! Seriously, not foreseeing it getting nearly as out of hand as that one. Actually, this is just another one of my little sanity breaks from the Flight universe.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

Chapter 1  
>Serendipity<p>

David was starting to doubt the wisdom of his rash decision to make for France before they even got out over the water. The closer they got to open sea, the more frigid the air became as it whipped past them. He could already feel Becky shivering against him. Ok, he liked that she'd slipped her hands into his jacket to keep them warm, but he could feel his body temperature dropping even with the jacket, and knew he'd be shivering as well in another minute or two. Not to mention that they couldn't fly above the clouds without suffocating in the thin atmosphere, and in the pale moonlight he could see some potentially dangerous cloud formations ahead. And of course he had begun to do the math. The eagle was pretty fast for a flying metal bird... but not exactly as fast as a jet... or even a plane. Factoring in speed, wind resistance, distance... he quickly came to the realization that it had been a stupid idea to try this.

It just figured! The first thing he tried to do as an official boyfriend and he totally screwed it up! Why couldn't he have tried for something a bit more reasonable and _doable?_ Now he was going to have to admit that he hadn't been thinking ahead. She'd just started thinking he was cool! It would have been nice if it had taken her at least a day or two to remember what a dork he really was.

Becky started slightly behind him. "What's that?" She asked in surprise.

"What's what? He asked, scanning his eyes around quickly for signs of danger.

"In your jacket. Something was moving!"

"What?" He asked in alarm, patting his jacket, then he blushed in embarrassment as he felt his cell phone vibrate against his hand. People so rarely called him he often forgot all about it. Her hand had been between him and the pocket he kept it in, and it was on silent mode. He quickly, but very carefully took it out. He didn't want to drop it up here! He really couldn't afford to replace it on his budget.

"Hello?" He asked as he pressed it up against his ear, trying to hear through the whistling of the wind as it passed.

"What are you doing, Dave?" Balthazar asked, his mildly curious voice barely audible above the wind.

David's eyes went wide. It was just so shocking to hear Balthazar's voice coming out of such a modern device. "We... we were just going for a little flight." He stammered, unwilling to admit where their intended destination was.

"Ok. That sounds nice. I just wanted to remind you, in case you don't recall from your Encantus," He said in his patient, teaching voice, "that enchanted sculptures must return to their origins by dawn. At dawn the concealing magic that keeps normal people from noticing that they are gone breaks. Not to mention that at dawn they return to their original form, which wouldn't be good if you were riding one high in the air."

David's blush deepened. "Right. Back by dawn. Got it." David muttered, nodding ruefully. "Um... how... how did you get my number?"

"Bennet. Very pleasant young man. We're at your place. Apparently you didn't fill him in on our relationship, so I told him we're your aunt and uncle visiting from out of town. He's volunteered to show us where a nice hotel is."

"Hotel?" David asked in surprise.

"You don't expect me to make Veronica sleep on that ratty cot in your lab, do you?"

"N-no, no, no. Of course not."

"I'll make sure you get the number you can reach me at. I expect to see you in your lab for training tomorrow evening."

"We... um... we're still doing that, then?"

Balthazar laughed. "You've just started, Dave! You need training now more than ever!"

"Right..." David replied. He hadn't really believed Balthazar would think he was ready to be on his own yet... but now that Balthazar had Veronica back, he had to admit he'd half expected that Balthazar would kind of forget about him. For a while at the very least. He had what he'd been searching for for a thousand years! It was kind of reassuring to know the man wasn't going to just up and leave him now that he'd gotten what he wanted.

"See you then, Dave." Balthazar said.

"Ya! Right, right. Bye." David said, then he closed his phone and tucked it back away.

"What was that about?" Becky asked, obviously having been unable to hear what Balthazar was saying over the wind.

"That was Balthazar. He... um... well he kind of needs the eagle back before dawn." He said, leaving off the potentially lethal consequences of not returning it on time.

"Oh," She said, trying to keep the relief out of her voice, "Well that's ok. The French can be rude anyway. Besides, I don't exactly have a bunch of Francs on me, and this eagle would be a pain to park out of sight in such a highly populated place."

"Right." he immediately agreed. Then he fell silent, feeling decidedly embarrassed and awkward as he turned the eagle, guiding it back in the direction they'd come from. He hadn't thought about money when they got there either. All he had was a debit card (that probably wouldn't work in a different country) and maybe ten bucks on him. And what about passports? If they'd have been asked for identification they would have been in trouble. Balthazar might be able to magic his way out of such situations, but David wasn't exactly a full fledged sorcerer yet, so he'd have been lost. And speaking of lost, when he thought about it, finding a foreign country he'd never even been to from the air would be a daunting task. If he had a GPS perhaps, but he didn't. And it's not like they could have popped down and asked for directions without drawing lots of unwanted questions and attention. Heck, with his luck he would have somehow wound up on the wrong continent! Well, if he made it past the plummeting to his death at dawn part, that was. Yes, he'd definitely have to do a lot more planning next time. Assuming there would _be_ a next time, that is!

After a few minutes she shifted her mouth closer to his ear and said, "You know where I'd like to go?"

"Where?" He asked immediately, praying it was someplace achievable.

"The coffee house just off campus."

He tried to shift his head around to see if she was serious. "At this hour? It's the middle of the night!"

"They're open twenty four hours when the college is in session so the students can study there. Haven't you ever been there at night?" She asked curiously.

"I... I... don't exactly... um... I've never really been inside there actually." He admitted. Bennet had always been trying to drag him in, but he just wasn't exactly comfortable around all of those students... most (if not ALL) of which were much more attractive and unquestionably cooler than him. He was much more comfortable in his lab.

"You're kidding me!" She said incredulously, "Well then, that's definitely where we're going!"

"Oh, alright." He sighed, shifting their direction a bit more.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

"What are you still doing alive?" An angry voice hissed.

Drake stirred dazedly and blinked his eyes open. He was... what the bloody Hell was he doing in his closet? His wide array of flamboyant clothing lined the walls in rows, his many pairs of designer boots underneath him from the feel of it. They were a bit painful really. He felt like trying to shift off of them, but the murderous look on Horvath's face as he glared down at him pushed such trivial thoughts aside. His mind was in disarray and he felt strangely like he was bleeding out... though he could feel no obvious wounds. Why was Horvath mad at him? What had he just said? Something about being alive? "Wha?" he muttered groggily.

Horvath reached down and grabbed the front of his shirt and hoisted him up a bit.

"Oi! Watch the threads, mate!" Drake muttered, trying to struggle to free himself, but finding he was unequal to the task, able to do little more than flail slightly. He couldn't figure out why he felt so weak!

Horvath ignored him. Displaying more strength than expected, he used the grip to haul Drake out, through the door and on out into his office, into the middle of the floor where he unceremoniously dropped him.

Drake let out a little pained sound, but found he couldn't rise.

"She died because of you, you pathetic imbecile!" Horvath hissed.

"Wha? Who?" Drake asked, completely at a loss.

"Morgana!" Horvath snapped.

"Morgana's dead?" Drake asked, feeling a bit dazed. To tell the truth, until very recently he'd never fully believed she existed other than as some mythical being in a fairy tale. He'd just started wrapping his mind around the idea that she might really exist... and now she was dead? "You mean _dead_ dead? Like pushing up daisies? Like _never coming back?"_

"Of course I mean dead dead, you moronic waste of breath! And it's all _your fault!"_

"How could it be my sodding fault if I wasn't even there?" Drake asked incredulously.

"I used the parasite spell on you to gain your strength so I would have the power I needed. If you had _died_, like you were _supposed to_, I would have had the full use of your ring and I could have helped her fight the Prime Merlinean! She stood no real chance against him alone!"

"So, wait..." Drake said, fighting down nausea and continuing waves of dizziness as he worked that through, "You didn't manage to snuff me, so you just ran off like a sodding wuss and left her to fend for herself? And you have the orchestras to blame _me?"_

Horvath let out a sound of fury, cracking him upside the head with his cane.

Drake cried out, his head ringing and throbbing from the blow. When his vision cleared he saw Horvath still standing over him, though he had mastered himself and merely glared down at him with disdain. "Well, Morgana may be gone, but her true followers are still around. Now I will just have to fall back for a time, let Balthazar and his little apprentice become complacent while I find and gather _real_ Morganians and plan. Don't worry, though. You needn't worry yourself with any of that. This is where you and I shall part ways."

Drake watched him with growing apprehension as Horvath tucked his cane under his arm and opened his cloak, withdrawing a long dagger. "Wha... whacha planning on doing with that?"

"This?" Horvath asked pleasantly, indicating the wickedly sharp blade. "Oh, I'm just going to plunge it through your pathetic little heart. Don't get me wrong, you'll be dead soon either way, in fact I can't figure out why you didn't die within minutes of my casting that spell on you, but I'm not exactly a patient man, and this should finish the job quite nicely. You see your soul doesn't appear to want to be dislodged for some reason. Perhaps your ego has simply grown too large to squeeze its way out in the usual manner." He drawled with derisive amusement, "Whatever the reason, this should finish the job. My blades are each forged from a single piece of the finest silver, you see." He said, shifting it helpfully so Drake could see how the gleaming blade flowed seamlessly into the hilt. "As I'm guessing you've already discovered, given your tasteless, yet finely crafted jewelry, pure silver forms a perfect conduit for magic. I simply insert this into your heart, and when you die the remainder of your power will be drawn out and into _me_, and I will draw your petty, narcissistic little excuse for a soul into your ring where it was intended to go, which will finally give me full mastery of your power. Until it's used up, anyway. It wouldn't do anyone any good just drifting off into nothingness, now would it? You may not have served Morgana properly in life, but I assure you that in death you shall be a great deal more useful to the cause."

"Wait!" Drake said quickly, adrenaline rushing through his veins, giving him a bit more strength. He scootched himself away towards the old cabinet next to his desk as best he could in his condition as Horvath moved closer, shifting the dagger up into position, "I... I'm _much_ more valuable to you alive, I am! What about readies? I'm filthy rich, I am! You could really coin in if you kept me about!"

Horvath gave a little amused snort, following him at a sedate, but relentless pace. "If I needed your money I could just shift myself into your semblance and clean out your accounts. It's not worth the trouble, though, because if you had _real_ magical talent you'd know that money is useless really. Those with power don't need it. If I want something, I take it. None of these pathetic non-magical folk could ever hope to stop me. That's your greatest weakness, you know. You think you have to follow _their_ rules. You actually seem to think those people are more than the stupid, pathetic animals they are. If I ever run across your master, I will be sure to inform him of what a complete and utter _failure_ you were as a Morganian."

Drake pushed himself up on shaking arms, resting his back against the ancient wooden cabinet with iron edgings. "I may not be much of a Morganian." He admitted, "I may not even be a dab hand at being a sorcerer... but I'm an absolutely bloody _brilliant_ magician!" he said as he elbowed the special knot on the side of the cabinet.

Flash powder and a smoke pellet shot out of secret compartments on the cabinet. Horvath's eyes were dazzled by the burst of light, and when he looked back there was a cloud of smoke where Drake had been. He blew it away with a wave of his cane only to find... nothing. Drake was gone!

Horvath flicked his cane, yanking the cabinet doors open, but it was empty. A quick search confirmed Drake was somehow no longer in the room. He went over and felt along the side of the cabinet. He located the knot, but pressing it did nothing. He rose with a huff of frustration, then strode out of the office and over to the brightly blazing fire in the large, gaudy fireplace. "Very well, we'll do this the hard way. I would have made it quick... but some people simply can't tell when I'm doing them a favor."

He took the dagger, using the fine tip to pierce the tip of his finger. He held it out over the fire, letting three big drops of blood drip down into the flames. There was silence for a moment, then a soft, squealing sound started coming from the fire... then another. A shadow seemed to be forming in the heart of the flames, growing quickly as the squealing became louder. Another one became visible, then another, quickly dampening the light of the flames as they grew.

"That's it, my little ones..." Horvath cooed softly, "Time to wake up. Daddy has a chore for you..."

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

Drake tried desperately to keep from crying out in fear as he slid quickly down the tightly spiralling passage. He'd never used that trap door without preparation before. Usually he had his limo waiting in the alley, sunroof open and strategically placed, copious amounts of padding waiting to gently cushion his landing... his magic to slow his descent... but this time...

The hidden chute opened up and flung him out at full speed a good seven feet in the air. He hit the grimy alley pavement a split second later, the air evacuating his lungs as the pain of the impact shot through him. The edges of his vision went gray, unconsciousness threatening. He just lay there on his back and fought it off, dazed and desperately trying to force air back into his lungs while trying to evaluate what was broken. With an impact that hard with no padding it was a given that something would be.

The pavement was uneven where he landed and he was almost certain he'd fractured, if not outright broken, several ribs where a bit of broken pavement set higher than the rest. Other than that he had a killer headache, possibly the start of a concussion, and he was pretty sure his right shoulder was dislocated at the very least.

Overall, he'd fared much better than expected really.

By the time he finished his assessment his vision had started to clear up and he started paying more attention to what his eyes were seeing. He was staring up at the night sky. There was something brewing that was disturbing the clouds. They were starting to move, swirling ever so slowly around in an unnatural circle above his building, tiny flares of blood red light flicking through them. He might not know enough magic to know what Horvath was doing, but he was smart enough to know it was something terrible. He felt the urgent need to get up and get away, but his body was barely responding.

As he gazed up at his impending doom it began to sink in properly. He'd escaped for the moment, but even now he could feel his life force slowly bleeding out of him. No matter what he did, this was it. He was going to die tonight. It wasn't something he'd really thought about before. He'd done insanely dangerous stunts... set himself on fire, jumped off tall buildings, submerged himself in seemingly inescapable chains... and yet he'd never thought for a moment that any of that could ever really end his life. He was magical, after all! None of that mere mortal shite could ever kill him, right? But this was different. This was _magic_, and magic obviously far more powerful than his own at that. This was finally it, then. The end of the line.

He really thought his death would have been something a bit more spectacular. A brilliant blaze of glory, hopefully caught on film so people could watch it over and over and marvel at it. But there were no cameras here. No exciting end to his story. He was simply going to snuff it in silence, laying in an alley all alone, like some old dosser.

How disappointing.

"Hey mister, you alright?" A voice called from the street.

Drake shifted his head over, spotting a somewhat short but burly cab driver peering down the alley at him, his cigarette forgotten between his thick fingers.

"Be a love and give us a hand, won't you?" Drake gasped, his voice weak and thready. If he had to die, he'd prefer it be somewhere other than this dank alley.

The guy tossed the cigarette and hurried down the alley. "What happened ta you? Ya need an ambulance?"

Drake quickly waved that off. Paramedics couldn't help him. Besides, by the time an ambulance got there he'd be dead. In fact nowhere would be safe for him in short order.

His eyes widened as a thought suddenly occurred. "I need to get somewhere fast." He said, struggling to wedge the hand of his good arm into the pocket of his overly tight trousers. He pulled out a bit of folded money and offered it up to the man. "It's all yours if you can get me there."

The man accepted the money and unfolded it. It was hundred dollar bills. "This is five hundred bucks!" He said incredulously. "Jus how far ya need ta go?"

"Not far, just _fast!"_ Drake replied, trying to struggle up and failing miserably.

The man chuckled and tucked the money in his pocket, "Well then, for five hundred bucks ya get curbside service. Jus try not to hurl in my cab, k?" he said, obviously thinking Drake was just wasted.

Drake bit back a cry of pain as the man gathered him up and lifted him off the ground. Normally he would have insisted on getting up and walking himself... but he didn't have time for pride at the moment. He gazed back up at the turbulent sky above as the man carried him to his cab. He didn't mention that the money was mostly hazard pay. He just hoped he got where he needed to go before whatever that was caught up with him!

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

"Well, it may not be France, but at least the fries are French." David quipped as he held up a greasy, rather limp fry.

Becky giggled and snatched the fry, dunking it in the little pool of ketchup on her plate. "Close enough." She said before taking a bite of it.

He grinned. It had been a rather lame joke, but she hadn't even rolled her eyes! Despite his earlier anxiety, he was starting to think he might still have an actual chance with her. Her coping skills were amazing. A couple of hours ago magic had just been made up, mythical stuff for her... and yet she'd taken the realization of its reality with amazing stride. She hadn't even balked at climbing up on a tower and knocking aside a satellite dish on his word alone! What an amazing woman! There was no question she was one in a million.

"Hey, Becka!"

David looked over, spotting a rather attractive young man sauntering over, obviously addressing Becky. He had short brown hair that formed amazingly perfect lazy curls, clean cut, stylish clothing and a long black scarf around his neck. He looked oddly familiar... after a moment he remembered him being at the radio station where Becky worked. David darted his eyes over to Becky and saw that her cheeks had tinged a bit red.

"Hey, Andre." She muttered, darting a glance over at David before darting them back to Andre once more. "Um, you probably remember David. He's the one that fixed our antenna."

"Oh, yeah. Right." Andre said, barely sparing David a glance before looking back to her. "Missed you at the party. Where ya been?" He asked, leaning against the nearby support beam and shoving his hands half way into his jean pockets. It wasn't a nervous gesture... it seemed to just serve to make his already tight pants just a bit tighter while calling attention to his crotch as the irritatingly impressive bulge there strained the material.

"Just hanging out with David." She said quickly, tucking her hands into her lap in an obviously nervous fashion. "I wasn't in a party mood. Maybe next time." She finished with a hint of finality that clearly indicated she wanted him to leave now.

Andre looked David over appraisingly, "Study group?" He asked with a little sneer.

"Actually, he's my new boyfriend." She said firmly, her chin raising a bit as her eyes narrowed.

Andre let out a highly amused snort, "You're kidding, right?"

"No, she's not." David said, wrestling down his nerves. Guys like Andre usually intimidated him terribly, but he was a sorcerer, damn it! He may not look it, but he had just as much to offer as this pretty boy! "So... so why don't you just run along?" He said, trying to make it sound as brave as possible.

Andre chuckled and looked him over appraisingly. "Let me guess... Physics?"

David furrowed his brow.

"Nailed it, didn't I?" Andre asked with obvious amusement. "I heard she was having trouble in that class. I was Trigonometry last semester. I got her a strong B plus." He said, placing a hand on his chest as if introducing himself formally, then half turning to look back at his group of friends, "Let's see... Scott over there in the red shirt was before me. He was Biology, got her an A minus, and Jeffrey, that poor wretch in the back corner, he was Advanced English." He said, nodding towards a surprisingly plain looking boy in the back corner. He was wearing somberly dark clothing and a black hoodie. He was buried in a book, but his dejected posture spoke of a silent, aching depression. "She only got a B out of him. She would have gotten an A easy, but he found out she was seeing Scott on the side two weeks before finals. He still hasn't quite recovered. Poets..." he said, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head ruefully.

"Stop it!" Becky hissed. "It wasn't like that and you know it! You make it sound like I was using you!"

"Weren't you?" Andre asked with a sweet smile. "You've barely even talked to me since you finished your finals and passed Trig."

"It was summer break! You live out of state! Things can change when you're apart for a couple of months!" She shot back.

Andre took a deep breath and sighed it out, "Whatever you say, hun. I can't say I regrete it. If nothing else, you're an amazing lay." He looked over at David with a little smile, "Trust me, this one will wear you out! Enjoy it while you can, Physics." he said, giving David a little wink before pushing off of the beam and striding back over to his friends.

David glared after him, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to it. Was she just using him? It would explain her irrational attraction to him. He'd be the first to admit she was way out of his league.

"It wasn't like that." Becky said, looking up at him worriedly, "I swear! And I broke up with Scott after like two weeks, which was well before I even thought about Jeffrey like that, but Scott just couldn't get that through his head. He thought studying together meant we were still _together_ even though I wouldn't let him touch me, and then he went and screwed things up with poor Jeffrey. Jeffrey was so sweet..." She said sadly, glancing over at the boy in the corner for a moment before training her eyes on the table before her. She took a deep breath and sighed it out. "I just... I'll admit I have a bad habit of getting too close to my study partners, but it wasn't..." She trailed off, at a loss for how to explain it.

"Listen..." He said softly, "Whatever happened or didn't happen, it was the past... and I say we leave it there and just move on."

She gave him a little relieved smile.

Ok, he would be the first to concede that she may well just be using him to pass... but then again, her Physics class ran for the full school year. Even if she was using him, he'd at the very least have this beautiful, wonderful girlfriend until the end of the year. Who knows, maybe by then she'd like him for more than just grades and she'd stay with him! And even if that was a pipe dream, he'd still have the rest of the year. And... well, he didn't really want to admit it, but the comment about her in bed had made his mind go places it shouldn't. He chafed at knowing she'd slept with that asshole (which he noticed she hadn't bothered to deny), but he knew a girl this attractive probably wouldn't have made it to twenty with her virginity intact unless it was for religious reasons or something. Apparently Becky wasn't the strict religious type. It made his pulse quicken to think he might actually have a chance at having sex with her! He wasn't the type of guy who just wanted to get into a girl's pants as quick as possible or anything... but he was twenty years old and he'd never even gotten to second base with a girl before! Well, he certainly didn't think he had. To be honest, he wasn't absolutely sure what second base was. At any rate, he'd kissed a girl once in like third grade (before she belted him and ran off giggling), and tonight he'd kissed Becky. That was about the extent of his experience with the fairer sex. Not that he'd ever want to admit that, of course!

He looked over as he heard laughter. Andre was back at his seat, talking with his friends in a low voice, obviously telling them about him and Becky. They were chuckling and looking over at them with mischievous grins on their faces. David tried to push down his irritation. He'd been laughed at by the 'cool kids' countless times in his life, but it chafed all the more knowing they were laughing at Becky's expense.

Suddenly the half full coffee pot on the tray a passing waitress was carrying shattered, knocking the tray from her hand and dumping the steaming hot coffee right into Andre's lap. The young man let out a cry of pain and leapt up, desperately trying to get the scalding liquid off him as his friends scattered to avoid getting burned as well.

Becky's head whipped around. She took one look at the chaotic scene and her eyes snapped back over to David. "David!" She hissed accusingly.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry!" He sputtered, "I-I didn't mean to...!"

"Let's get out of here." She hissed, glaring at him as she grabbed her jacket and scooted out of the booth.

"Right." He muttered, his cheeks blazing as he pulled out a wadded up ten and tossed it on the table. The tab was only six, and it was the last of his cash, but he certainly wasn't going to wait for change. Not to mention the waitress was probably going to have to clean up that mess. If anything, he wished he had more to leave her.

They hurried out into the darkened street. He had let the eagle go when they got there, not knowing how long they'd stay, so they started walking. It was so late it was early, so there was no one else on the streets. It was half a block before she even said a word.

"I can't believe you did that!" She said, not looking at him.

"I didn't mean to! I swear!" He said quickly, "It just kind of... happened!"

She looked over at him, her expression still angry, but she appeared to be appraising his honesty. At length he seemed to pass. "Well you can't be doing things like that." She muttered.

"I'm working on my control. I just... apparently need more practice." He said, his voice dropping off deprecatingly. "I'm sorry."

She took a deep breath and sighed it out, but seemed to accept his apology.

They walked in silence the short ways to the nearest subway station, then down into it. They waited in relative silence for about five minutes, then they finally heard her train coming. She turned towards him. There was an awkward pause, then she just said, "Well... I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded quickly, "Tomorrow." he agreed.

There was another little pause.

David felt like he should kiss her goodnight since they were parting ways and they had kind of been on a date. Of sorts. Ok, a really weird date. Still... the mood felt wrong. She seemed to be waiting more because she didn't want him to think she didn't want to kiss him, but he could sense no real desire from her to be kissed. The train came to a stop and the doors opened. He gave her an out, giving her a nod. "Night then." He said, giving her a little smile, "Or good morning, I guess." He said, glancing at his watch.

She smiled back with a hint of relief, then hurried into the train. Once she was in she turned back, giving him a little wave.

He waved back, then the doors sighed shut and he watched her train disappear into the dark tunnel. His smile faded once she was gone. He really _hadn't_ intended to hurt Andre. He found the involuntary reaction a bit worrisome, really. He'd only been irritated at the boy... what would have happened if he'd been genuinely angry? The idea that this new power inside of him might lash out without him wanting it too was kind of frightening, really. He definitely needed to learn more control before he inadvertently hurt someone! Well, hurt someone worse than a scalded crotch anyway.

Feeling the need for some fresh air and time to think, he left the station and started meandering home. He slipped his hands into his pockets as he strolled along, then came to a sudden stop. His keys were gone! He quickly checked his other pockets, but they weren't on him! He tried to think where they might be. Well, anywhere in Battery park or anywhere the eagle flew over for one.

"Oh man!" He sighed in exasperation, searching his pockets once more. Still nothing. Yes, he could just go home and wake Bennet to get in, but he didn't like the thought of his keys just lying out where someone might find them and take them. Well, surely there was a spell to retrieve lost objects! He didn't want to disturb Balthazar, though. Bennet had texted him the phone number over an hour ago, saying he'd just left them, so by now they were probably... He quickly veered his thoughts back on task. Well, he could just check his Encantus, and if he didn't find the spell he'd just ask Balthazar about it when he came for the lesson tomorrow evening. After all, even if someone found his keys, it wasn't like they'd be likely to know what they unlocked. One day shouldn't make a difference.

Still... he changed direction, heading for his lab. His mind was awhirl with thoughts as he walked the familiar streets. His keys... where they might be... Becky... their relationship... Andre... he quickly skipped over to Balthazar and what kind of training he might have him doing... but then his mind kept slipping towards speculations of what he and Veronica might be doing right about now... He glanced up, realizing he'd arrived, then went up to the door. He reached out and turned the knob out of habit before realizing he hadn't unlocked it yet since he didn't have his key. He had a split second to try to remember where he'd hidden that spare key before it registered that the knob had turned fully. He pulled on the door and it opened.

He was surprised and concerned until he realized he'd probably simply forgotten to lock it behind him the last time he left. Locking a door had seemed a bit trivial at the time after all. If Morgana had succeeded he would have most likely been dead. Either that or all the non-sorcerers would be. Either way, the security of his lab would be moot at that point.

He started down the stairs absently, his mind still churning away. He opened the final gate, which creaked loudly, only grudgingly letting him pass, then started down into the old subway turn-around he used for a lab. He'd only gotten a few steps past the gate when his foot kicked something small that sounded metal. It clattered noisily down a couple of steps.

With an amused snort, he followed, then reached down, picking up the keys. "So that's where you went!" he said happily as he slipped them into his pocket where they belonged. Well that was a relief! He must have dropped them while they were hurrying off to save the world earlier.

Well, mission accomplished! He was about to turn around and head right back up, but then he noticed the odd lighting. The main lights weren't on... and yet there was a distinct glow coming from his lab. He held onto the rail as he shifted around to try to spot the source.

The Merlin's circle was lit up with its ghostly green flames... and there was someone lying in the middle of it! He raced down the stairs, worried at first that it might be Balthazar since he was the only other one he knew of that could light it, but then came to an abrupt stop at the bottom of the last flight of stairs. Despite the dim light and the fact that his back was to him, he recognized the man laying before him.

A ball of plasma quickly formed in his hand. "What are you doing here?"

The figure started slightly, as if he'd just been woken, then Drake turned laboriously over. He blinked at David, trying to get his eyes to focus. The ghostly green flames caressed him in several places, but didn't seem to hurt him or even burn his clothing. "Is it dawn?" he croaked, sounding hoarse and drained.

"I asked you what you were doing here!" David persisted, the plasma bolt growing a bit as he stepped closer, trying to look intimidating.

"Is it dawn?" Drake forced out with a note of urgency.

"No." David said, getting a bit irritated, "Why are you..."

"Get in the circle!" Drake called out in alarm, ignoring his question.

"Why should I..." David's eyes went wide as he heard a snarling sound coming from behind him. He turned and saw a bit of shadow separate itself from the rest of the darkness, its glowing red eyes glaring at him. It charged him and he barely had time to swing the plasma bolt around and hurl it before it reached him. The hideous shape of the beast was illuminated by the plasma as it burst, flinging it back against the wall. David had never seen something so grotesque, so utterly twisted and obviously evil. It was easily the size of a full grown lion, though it bore absolutely no other resemblance to one.

"Behind you!" Drake called out, struggling to rise.

David spun around and caught a glimpse of another shadowy shape hurtling towards him. He got a shield up barely in time. The impact shoved him back several feet, but the shield held. He got his first close up look at the hideous creature as its fetid breath steamed against his shield mere inches from his face. He forced down his terror and shoved it away with the shield. It was knocked back a few paces, but turned back and started towards him again without pause. The plasma bolt in David's hand didn't have time to get very big before he threw it, so it only stunned the creature. He immediately started building another in each of his hands.

David cried out in pain as he was bowled over from behind. The forming plasma bolts flew off uselessly into one of the dark corners of the room as the giant feet of the heavy creature pressed him to the ground, claws piercing his shoulder.

Suddenly something else came out of the darkness, knocking it off his back and the sounds of a violent fray ensued. David gathered his plasma in desperation, sending a bolt towards the second beast as it rose and bore down on him once more. It was blasted back and went down. He scrambled around, looking towards the bloodcurdling shrieks of agony behind him. The third beast was there... attacking Drake with terrifyingly speed and ruthlessness. Drake's clothing was ripped up across the back and the creature had its teeth in Drake's shoulder. It used the grip to flip the helpless man over. It grabbed Drake's head with a what was obviously more a hand than a paw and jerked his head up startlingly fast, as if Drake were no more than a rag doll, then slammed his head down into the floor with a sickening crunching sound. Its razor sharp teeth darted for his throat.

David's plasma bolt caught it barely in time. He sent another bolt into the creature just for good measure as it staggered back. When it had crumpled to the ground and he was sure it wasn't moving anymore, he moved cautiously over to Drake, keeping a plasma bolt blazing brightly in his palm just in case it was a trick.

Drake looked up at him, his eyes glassy with pain. There were slashes on the side of his face from where the creature's claws had cut into him as it grasped him, and a few cuts on his neck from where the teeth had grazed him. There was also a disturbing puddle of blood forming beneath him. "The circle." He gasped weakly, "Get in... the circle..."

David looked up, feeling a trill of terror race through him as he saw the first beast he'd downed starting to stir. He thought he'd killed it! He sent another plasma bolt into it, then into each of the others as well, but he could feel himself quickly weakening. He knew he was pretty tapped out, his battle with Morgana and reviving Balthazar having drained nearly every last spark of power from him... apparently he'd started to recharge a bit in the hours since then, but he was pretty much tapped out again after that! From the speed they'd demonstrated, it was obvious outrunning them wasn't an option. If the circle would block those things, he definitely needed to get into it!

He looked down at Drake uncertainly.

Drake coughed and blood started trickling from the side of his mouth. "Go." He wheezed, shutting his eyes.

David was torn. This was supposed to be a bad guy... and yet he was pretty sure the man had just saved his life. He took a deep breath, then shifted around, trying to find a good angle. He knew he couldn't lift this man outright, he was easily taller and weighed more than David did after all... and he was too drained to levitate him. He finally moved around so his feet were to either side of Drake's head and reached down, slipping his hands under the man's arms. Drake let out a cry of pain as David lifted him. David's grip on him was tenuous considering the slippery blood that kept trying to loosen his grip, but he persisted, dragging the man as gently as he could manage back towards the blazing circle. He hated the obvious agony he was causing him, but he was almost certain the man was dead if he left him there and any of those things woke up.

David was worried about the higher flames at the edge of the circle, but just as the ones in the center had, the flames licked harmlessly against Drake as he was dragged over them. Suddenly, Drake jerked against his grip and let out another cry of pain. David's eyes darted up and he let out a terrified cry as he saw that one of the creatures had apparently awaken, and now had Drake's boot, the last thing still outside the double line of the circle perimeter, firmly clasped in its mouth. David jerked back instinctively and slipped, falling back and dragging Drake with him.

He quickly sat back up, trying to muster another plasma bolt, but then saw that his panicked fall had pulled Drake the rest of the way into the circle. The creature glowered at him, still clutching Drake's boot in its mouth, but didn't even try to pass the circle's edge. As he looked past it, he saw the other two had awoken as well. He watched them warily as they circled, but any time they got close to the circle the flames grew higher and drove them back.

The plasma in David's hand flickered and winked out. He wasn't entirely sure if it was because he'd relaxed some or if he'd simply run dry. He slumped back a bit, then looked down at Drake. The man was struggling weakly for breath. He looked over, noting the amount of blood he'd left on the floor, and the swath left when David had dragged him. It almost looked like he'd drawn a path with a huge paint brush. He was no expert, but he had a sickening feeling this man wasn't going to be struggling for breath much longer. He'd never really seen someone die before. Well, Morgana didn't really count since she was more some kind of weird dust cloud than a person, and Balthazar didn't count since he'd been revived... but he had a strong feeling there would be no reviving this one once he'd gone.

Drake heard his pained sigh and his mouth twitched up a bit on the edges. "'s a'right, mate." He gasped weakly, "I know I'm gonna snuff it. Still, cheers for keepin me from that lot."

"You're not going to die." David lied, trying desperately to think of a way to keep it from being a lie. "There's got to be some way I can help you!" he said, trying to force one more plasma bolt.

Drake reached a shaking arm up and took his hand, squelching the pitiful plasma ball that had just started to form. He gave his head a slight shake, then swallowed hard, obviously fighting off nausea. When he settled, he opened his eyes. "I'm up the swanny, mate. Horvath snuffed me hours ago... apparently the penny just hasn't dropped yet."

"If only Balthazar was here!" David breathed, pained tears crowding his eyes. He'd never felt so helpless. Drake let go of his hand. David couldn't help but stare and the blood that covered his hand. This couldn't be happening!

David shifted back away, careful not to bump Drake, then scrubbed his sticky hands on his pant legs. He didn't care if it ruined the pants... he couldn't stand the feeling. He settled cross-legged, ignoring the flames licking around him as he stared at the slowly dying man before him.

The beasts circled slowly, glaring at them the whole time, looking completely tireless. There was no indication at all that the plasma bolts he'd hit them with earlier had left any damage whatsoever.

"Oh man!" David moaned, "Oh man, oh man, oh man!" He tugged at a bit of his hair anxiously, then remembered the blood still clinging stubbornly to his hands and stopped.

"Cotch, mate." Drake sighed, "They should snuff it at dawn."

"Really?" David asked, brightening.

"Think so." Drake muttered, his eyes drooping shut. "Guess you'll find out."

David swallowed hard, the implication that he'd be alone when dawn came making his stomach squirm. "Oh man..." He whined, pulling out his phone. As he'd expected, there were no bars. "Wish I could call Balthazar! He'd know what to do!"

Drake let out a little amused breath, "Then call him, mate."

"We're underground! There's no signal down here." David said, showing him the reading on the phone.

Drake cracked his eyes open, then closed them again, the sides of his mouth twitching up again. "You're a sodding... antenna!" He gasped softly. "Jus stand up... and hold up... your arm. You'll look... like a twat... but you'll..." his voice faded out, his head drifting to the side as his ragged breaths got a bit shallower.

David quickly got up. He watched the face of the phone. Did a bar just flicker there for a moment? He raised his arm above his head. Yes, he did indeed feel a bit like a 'twat', but it was worth it when he saw a bar start to flicker. He stood on this tip-toes, stretching his arm as high as he could and the bar stabilized. Triumphantly, he dialed the number.

He held his breath as it rang once... twice... he was getting worried... three times... then there was a clattering sound at the other end of the line.

"Hello?" Balthazar's voice muttered groggily.

Sleeping was the last thing David had expected Balthazar to be doing right now, but he was glad he was waking him up rather than the alternative! "Balthazar! I'm in the lab! There are these hideous black things with glowing red eyes in here. They were attacking me, but I'm in the circle now and they can't seem to come into the circle."

"Those sound like demons." Balthazar said, sounding suddenly much more awake. There was the sound of movement, then a little sigh of relief. "It looks like it's almost dawn. Just stay in the circle. Once dawn breaks they should disburse."

"But... but Drake Stone's here..." David said, looking down at the man worriedly. His chest wasn't rising much anymore.

"Horvath's apprentice? I thought he killed him! He had his ring..." Balthazar said, obviously puzzled.

"I don't know. I don't know. He's just... one of those things got a hold of him. He's bleeding all over the place. He's... he's dying and I don't know what to do!" he said, trying to keep from tearing up. He just felt so helpless!

"Calm down." Balthazar said firmly and he started rustling around, sounding like he was dressing. "I'm on my way. It'll probably be dawn before I even get there, but don't leave the circle until I arrive in case they try to trick you. I'll bring Veronica. She's a strong healer. Just try to get him to hold on for ten more minutes, ok?" then he hung up without waiting for a response.

David eased back down, dropping his arm and staring at the phone. He closed it and made himself look down at Drake. Ten minutes might not be much, but he was rather doubtful Drake had that much longer in him.

David sat down beside him and reached out and touched his shoulder, then stopped himself before he shook him, realizing how painful that would probably be. "Drake." He said, watching his face. There was no response, "Drake!" He said louder, nudging him ever so slightly.

Drake winced, then his eyes slowly fluttered open. The pupil of his right eye was no more than a pinpoint, the other normal looking. David was no expert, but he was fairly certain that was bad. Very bad.

"You have to stay awake. I got a hold of him. He's coming. It'll just be a few more minutes. I'm sure he can patch you up. You just need to hold on for a few more minutes."

"Sure." Drake breathed softly, though there was a little humoring grin tugging at his bloodied lips.

David wasn't sure what else to say. It was obvious speaking was uncomfortable if not painful for Drake, so he couldn't really strike up a conversation... but how else was he to keep him from drifting off again?

After a bit, Drake's head drifted to the side again, his eyelids getting heavy. Then his body tensed slightly, his eyes opening back up more. "That sodding bastard!" He gasped, looking pained.

David turned, following his gaze. One of the demons had settled down there and was currently gnawing at Drake's boot.

"Those were custom made! Cost me two hundred pounds, they did!" He said, gasping a bit from the effort.

David couldn't help the little smile that flicked over his lips. The man was dying and he was worried about his designer footwear!

The creature seemed to be aware of the distress it was causing. It hooked its teeth into the boot and yanked on it, then gnawed on the dislodged piece with obvious relish. One of the others decided to get in on the fun as well, coming over and latching its teeth into the end. With a growl the first one tried to keep hold of its prize and a tug of war began.

"Is he still alive?"

Dave's head spun around as Balthazar hurried down the steps. "Watch out!" He said quickly.

"Disburse!" Balthazar called with a flick of his wrist.

Dave looked back, but there was nothing but a mangled boot where the beasts had been.

"Bring him over here. We'll put him on the table." Balthazar said, hurrying over to the table and starting to clear it.

"I don't think we should move him." David said worriedly.

"We don't have time for this, David." The wizard said impatiently, "Just levitate him over here before he bleeds out!"

David shifted around uneasily, looking down at Drake. He looked so fragile right now. He didn't know if he could live with himself if he accidentally dropped him or something and he ended up dying.

Drake had his eyes closed, but his brow was furrowed. "Didn't hear... the gate..." He muttered curiously.

David's eyes widened and looked up at Balthazar, then gazed at him searchingly. "Where's Veronica?"

"She'll be along in a moment." Balthazar said impatiently, "Now stop wasting time and get him over here!"

"I'm tapped out. Why don't _you_ levitate him over?" David asked, watching him carefully.

Balthazar let out a huff of irritation. "Because I told _you_ to do it! You're my apprentice, you're supposed to do as I say. Now get him out here before I have to teach you a lesson!"

"Ok, well I'll tell you what..." David said carefully, "Step in the circle and I'll levitate him out."

"What are you babbling on about? Move him! NOW!" he roared angrily.

"Ya know..." David said thoughtfully, "I think we'd rather stay here, thanks."

"Get him over here now or we're through!" Balthazar growled with finality.

"Oh... well, that's good." David said with a hint of sarcasm, "Because you make a lousy Balthazar."

'Balthazar' let out an inhuman shriek of fury and stormed towards them as flames started sprouting from him. By the time he reached the circle he was little more than a roughly human shaped column of flame somehow mixed with utter blackness. They actually felt a little tremor as it hit the edge of the circle as if it were a wall, making the green flames of the perimeter shoot up higher. Drake's eyes flickered back open, but didn't seem to be focusing on anything, the pupils still strangely mis-matched. The other two beasts came out of hiding and started assaulting the circle as well, all now blazing brightly enough to illuminate the whole room. They pounded on the invisible wall and shrieked in impotent rage.

David couldn't help but flinch each time one assaulted the 'wall'. They couldn't break through, could they? He had no idea how strong a Merlin's circle might be when protecting against demons. He thought it was just for training really, not protection, so he'd never thought to ask how strong it might be. Not to mention he'd thought demons were just myths or religious dogma before now... and he'd been much happier when he still believed that!

Suddenly their shrieks changed as one, turning to shrieks of pain. The flames their bodies bore brightened and quickly consumed the blackness until they were pure flame... then the flames slowly seemed to consume the beasts until they grew small, then flickered out, leaving no more than black scorch marks on the floor.

David hoped fervently that they were really gone this time, but he wasn't going to test it. Balthazar said to wait in the circle, and that's just what he planned to do.

He looked down at Drake, but he'd gone still. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes were open, but the pupils now matched perfectly... they were both fully dilated and began going dull as he watched. David didn't know much about death, but this wasn't hard to recognize.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

A/N – a bit of a cliffy, yes. Sorry. Please, please review. I need to get my muse back up and running and she's being fickle. Even if you're reading this later after there are more chapters, seriously, review. I don't mind getting reviews on old chapters.

A/N 2 – for those of you who noticed, I have revised this chapter. Just correcting a few little mistakes. I went through the movie with a fine toothed comb and made a floor plan of Drake's apartment and the lab (Man was that tedious!). I also realized the boy I saw in the cafe that I based Becky's ex on was actually a named character appearing for the _second_ time, so I corrected his name and nudged it to fit. I was a bit dismayed to find an error or two in the movie (like the "Magic: The Gathering" cardboard cut-out that was on the right of Drake's desk when Horvath used the Parasite spell disappearing by the time Balthazar got caught in the Persian rug trap... somehow I find it hard to believe Horvath moved an insignificant background prop before they got there... and how the heck did Becky go from wearing a skirt with fishnet-like stockings in class to wearing jeans after leaving class and going out into the rain? It was the same day, and she doesn't live on campus), but overall they did pretty good. A heck of a lot better than many movies I've seen. Don't get me started on the totally hosed timeline in Zoom. Liked the actors and premise well enough, but can't hardly watch it because the botched timeline bothers me so much. What can I say? I'm a Virgo...


	2. Silver

Chapter 2  
>Silver<p>

"NO!" David yelled, scrambling up to his knees. "No, no, no, no no!" He said, quickly forcing himself to form a plasma bolt. He was only able to make a medium sized one, despite his best efforts. He slammed it into the middle of Drake's chest. Drake's body jerked weakly but nothing more. David let out a little sob of anguish and tried again, forcing every last bit of his power into a second plasma bolt and hit Drake with it. Still nothing. He tried again, but he could barely muster a spark or two. He placed his hand flat on Drake's chest, feeling the utter stillness of it. It felt hollow somehow, though he couldn't say how.

David hung his head, tears crowding his eyes. He'd failed. Sure, he'd failed at lots of stuff in his life... but never at something that mattered this much. Crushing guilt descended on him. If only he'd gotten in the circle the first time Drake told him to... or not been so focused on one creature he hadn't notice the other sneaking up behind him... if only he was a better sorcerer...

A fat tear slipped down his cheek, then dropped. It splashed onto his finger, then ran down, soaking into Drake's shirt.

A little gurgling sound suddenly came from Drake's throat and the pupil of his left eye contracted down to a pin hole. He gave a weak cough that spattered his lips with more blood, then gasped weakly and blinked his eyes. The pupil of his left eye slowly returned to normal size for the lighting, the other remained fully dilated.

David let out a shuddering sigh of relief and slumped down a bit next to him.

Drake blinked slowly, seeming to get his bearings. He looked over towards David, but couldn't seem to find anything to focus on. After a moment he just closed his eyes again, a little smile slipping over his lips. "'s aright. Honestly." Drake murmured softly, his breath wheezing and gurgling in his throat. "You're... a diamond... love... but... give it up..." he said.

"But... but what about your fans?" David asked desperately.

Drake's unfocused, mis-matched eyes flicked back opened and a pained expression crossed his face.

"Ya!" David said quickly before he could drift off again, "What will all of your fans do if you die?"

Drake's eyes actually watered up a bit and he let out a little pained sound.

"I looked you up. You have quite a fan base. There are thousands of people all around the world that love you!"

"My fans..." Drake gasped in an agonized whisper, a couple of tears sliding down.

David had thought talk of his fans would work on the flamboyant man's ego... but he never really expected he cared so much about them! He looked genuinely broken hearted at the thought of how his fans would take his death. "There were even pictures of little kids dressed up like you." He went on, trying to keep the man aware, "They said they want to be magicians when they grow up. Just like you."

"Don't..." Drake paused, swallowing hard, then after a moment continued, "Don't... tell them... I've snuffed it..." He gasped weakly. "Tell them... tell them... I've vanished..." He finished, a little smile tugging at the side of his mouth once more.

David's eyes teared up again. He clinched them shut and silently started to pray.

His head jerked over as the cage door to his lab clanged open and Balthazar and Veronica entered. Balthazar reached over and flipped the switch for the lights in passing, flooding the room with their comforting artificial glow.

"Is he still alive?" Balthazar asked as he bounded down the stairs.

"Yes." David said, looking down at Drake once more. "Maybe." he amended, seeing the man's eyes had shut once more. He quickly reached out, feeling for a pulse. He couldn't find one! It always looked so easy when nurses and doctors did it, but he wasn't sure if Drake's heart had stopped once more or if he was merely doing it wrong.

David glanced up as Balthazar entered the circle, then let out a shuddering sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God. It's really you this time!"

"Tried something, did they?" Balthazar asked with grim amusement as he came and knelt next to Drake, examining him. He looked back as Veronica hurried after him. "He's almost gone."

"Move aside!" She said with firm assurance. The men both backed away as she knelt beside Drake.

David just bit his lip worriedly as she examined Drake, running her hands above his prone body, the soft glow of her power flowing from her hands down into Drake.

"Most of his wounds are on his back." She said, her softly lilting voice taking on a businesslike tone, "I can't levitate him until he's stable. Help me turn him over."

Balthazar went over to Drake's shoulders without question and David hurried over to Drake's side. They rolled the injured man over as gently as they could.

Veronica let out a little horrified gasp, holding one shaking hand before her mouth as she stared down at the bloody mess the creature had made of him. The hair on the back of his head was saturated with blood, and it looked like the creature had made two swipes with its claws across his back, crisscrossing in a big X.

David scrambled back, then got up and turned away, walking to the edge of the circle. He stopped there, fighting down the bile that rose in his throat. He wanted to leave, to somehow banish the sight of torn flesh and bone from his mind, but still couldn't quite make himself cross out of the circle.

"I'm sure he'll pull through, Dave." Balthazar said softly as he came to a stop beside him. "Sorcerers are very hard to kill through physical means alone. A normal man with wounds like that would have died within moments. Don't worry, Veronica is the best healer I've ever encountered. If anyone can patch him back together, it's her."

"He certainly didn't seem to think he'd make it." David said, keeping his voice low, "He kept telling me to give up and let him die. He... he said Horvath already killed him hours ago, then something about dropping a penny that I didn't really understand."

Balthazar stood there in silent contemplation for a few minutes, then looked over at David again, "How did this happen? How did you end up here with him and some demons in the first place?"

David started to reach up to scrub his fingers through his hair, but then stopped when he saw the disturbing traces of blood still on his hand. He tucked his hands into his pockets to keep from looking at them. "I lost my keys. I didn't want to disturb you, so I came here to see if there was some kind of finding spell or something in the Encantus. The ridiculous thing is, I found my keys on the stairs on my way down here. I must have dropped them earlier."

"Interesting coincidence..." Balthazar murmured contemplatively.

"Ya." David said distractedly, "I was going to just leave, but then I saw the light of the circle and came the rest of the way down and found him sleeping in the middle of the circle... then those things came at me! He... he tried to warn me, told me to get in the circle, but..." He shook his head. "One of them knocked me down. It had me... I would have been dead... but then he knocked it off of me... and then it..." He glanced back over his shoulder at Drake's mangled body, then quickly looked back away. "I don't understand this." He said softly, "He's supposed to be a bad guy. He's a Morganian. I'm a Merlinean! I just _killed Morgana!_ Why... why would he help me?"

Balthazar let out a little sigh, carefully taking David's jacket off. David didn't know why, but he let him take it off without question. "Sorcerers aren't born one way or the other, Dave." Balthazar began, then he stopped, "Ok, maybe _you_ were, but with regular sorcerers it's a choice. Horvath is proof of that." He said as he gently pulled David's flannel shirt off of his shoulder, then took a hold of David's t-shirt near the shoulder and unceremoniously ripped it open.

David looked at the rip, then spotted the edge of deep claw marks on his shoulder and quickly looked away. He remembered now how the claws had dug into him when the creature pounced on him, but somehow it hadn't really registered that he'd been hurt until he saw it. Now that he realized they were there, the cuts suddenly started stinging and burning horribly. He must have been in shock, because he somehow hadn't even noticed the warm blood that was now soaking a good portion of the back of his shirt and was actually dripping off the bottom of his sleeve. No wonder he couldn't seem to keep the blood off his hands!

"It's like a religion." Balthazar continued, completely unfazed but the deep gouges. He held his hand over them, soft light starting to emanate from it, making the pain slowly started to fade. "Most of the time what you turn out to be is determined simply by what kind of sorcerer stumbles across you first and takes you as an apprentice. Sorcerers aren't born good or evil any more than any other person, it's just what we're taught combined with who we are as a person. His Master may have been a Morganian, but it's obvious the boy's had very little real training. A couple of years at best from what I've seen. He has plenty of raw potential, just hasn't learned to properly master it yet. Still, he's lucky he wasn't left in his Master's care any longer than he was, really. The initial stages of training for Morganians are specifically designed to make them completely dependent on their Masters. They sever whatever emotional and social bonds the child may have had to anyone else, often uprooting them from everything they've ever known entirely so there is nowhere else for the child to turn, then they use that isolation and emotional dependence to strip their apprentices of their innocence, twisting their impressionable young minds until they see the world the way Morgana did. Despite his lack of training, Drake tried to be a good little Morganian... but it's obvious his Master never completed the transition. He may think of himself as a Morganian, but he hasn't learned to hate without reason and a complete disregard for any life other than his own like a true Morganian." He said as the light from his hand faded away. "He still has innocence inside him. Anyone who's met him could tell you that." He said, giving his hand a sweep down David's back, then arm, making the blood disappear.

"The... the first time I met him..." David said as he pulled the flannel back up into place, still feeling a bit shaky and studiously not letting himself look back at Drake again, "In that bathroom... he could have killed me easy. When I wasn't fighting back, he stopped... he let me go and told me to take my best shot... and when I completely messed it up and couldn't cast, he waited patiently and actually started giving me pointers..." he said, finishing with a wry grin.

Balthazar let out an amused breath. "A Morganian with a sense of fairplay. Horvath must have been furious."

"Oh... oh, oh yeah." David agreed, nodding fervently.

Balthazar turned, staring down at the mangled young man his love was trying to piece back together. "He's not a completely hopeless cause..." he murmured speculatively.

"He went from 'he's going to make it' to 'not a completely hopeless cause'?" David asked worriedly, barely keeping himself from looking again.

"I wasn't talking about his physical wounds, Dave." Balthazar said evenly, "I meant as a sorcerer. Well, referring to his allegiance to Morgana. Of course I'm not sure he'll have any hope of ever doing magic again. It's obvious Horvath took his ring against his will... Even if he can sever his bond with that ring, it's extremely unlikely he'll be able to find another one that will match him. They've become very rare over the years since so few are capable of actually creating them. One of the hardest challenges with taking an apprentice nowadays is finding them a focal object that matches them close enough to work. A sorcerer's ring or charm must resonate on his specific magical frequency I guess you would call it. It stores the excess power his body creates when he's not using it..."

"Like a backup battery?" David asked, furrowing his brow.

"In more modern terms, yes, you could call it that. It also, obviously, works as a conduit vital to drawing the power out of the sorcerer so it can be used for magic. That's why you didn't have any magical misfires while you weren't wearing your ring, though you've obviously had a great deal of magic within you your whole life. You can physically separate a sorcerer from his ring, as Horvath did with you, and if that ring was strongly charged he can leech off some of that stored magic while it lasts, but only a small portion of what it holds, because it wouldn't actually match _him_. Horvath would have to kill the sorcerer and draw the sorcerer's soul itself into the ring, using that soul as a kind of key to unlock the full potential of the stored power. That can only be done using a Parasite spell. He's fond of using that one."

"Parasite spell?" David asked, not liking the sound of it.

Balthazar nodded, "As I said, it kills the sorcerer and pulls his soul into the ring or whatever channeling device they used. Once that is done, Horvath has full use of the stored power. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for us, the power doesn't last long. Without the victim's physical body to _generate_ the power, the ring runs out of power in a few hours or days, depending on how strong the victim was and how much it's used. Once the power is drained, it burns up the sorcerer's soul as well. I've never heard of someone surviving a Parasite spell for more than a few minutes." He said, cocking his head to the side a bit, his gaze still on Drake. "I'm very curious to know how this young man has survived so long."

"Is it... umm... the circle?" David asked, gesturing to the flames of the outer circle before him. "It stopped those demon things. Could it have stopped that spell?"

Balthazar looked contemplative. "It _does_ block out malignant spells. I've never tried it on anything as powerful as a Parasite spell, though. It's mostly to protect inexperienced apprentices from attacking or influencing spells another sorcerer might try to use on them to prize them away from their Master. It is rather hard to find a good prospect with a focal object to match, so poaching the young ones before the Master has their complete loyalty is, sadly, not uncommon. I'm sure Morganians have their own ways of protecting their apprentices as well, but since I don't poach, I have no idea what they use."

David looked over at him, a bit aghast at the idea of someone like Horvath trying to steal him away, but Balthazar appeared to be serious. Well, hopefully no one would try that with him!

"Balthazar." Veronica said softly.

Balthazar immediately went over and knelt at Drake's side, opposite Veronica.

David made himself turn and look. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw she'd removed his vest and shirt and somehow managed to mend the torn skin back together. There were terrible welts of newly mending skin where the claws had torn through, but the skin was knitted together securely and he was whole once more. His sense of relief fled when he looked up at her sad expression.

"I have mended him and replenished his blood, but it did damage to his spine and the back of his head. I was able to relieve the swelling in his head and mend the flesh and bone, but I am fairly certain it left permanent damage." She said softly.

Balthazar's jaw clenched grimly.

"But, but, but you're a sorcerer! Sorceress, sorry, sorceress. Can't you fix him?" David asked anxiously.

She dropped her eyes.

Balthazar sighed and looked up at him. "Our bodies aren't made exactly like other people's, Dave. The power that we command... our magic... it flows through our nervous system. Nerve damage is usually irreversible no matter who you are... but when magic's involved, even the slightest damage can be devastating. You work with electricity, so you know what happens when the current is disrupted."

"But, but we have _magic!"_ David sputtered, "Can't we do _something?"_

"Magic is a wonderful and amazing thing," Balthazar said sadly, "But it isn't perfect. Just like with everything else, there are limitations. We can't fix everything."

Drake suddenly let out a muffled groan.

Balthazar held out his hand and gave his arm a slow wave parallel to the floor. The puddled blood on and around Drake hissed softly and appeared to simply evaporate. He then gently rolled Drake over before making another sweep, cleaning the blood from the front of him and the floor where he'd lain as well.

Drake coughed weakly, bringing up a bit more blood. Veronica quickly reached forward, running her hand over the left side of his upper chest, then on up his throat and to his mouth. The fresh blood vanished from his lips. Drake took a deep breath, then another, a look of relief on his face as he felt his lungs clear.

"There was a small hole in one of his lungs from a broken rib." Veronica explained softly.

Drake blinked his eyes open. The pupils matched, but though his eyes searched around they didn't appear to be focusing on anything. "Please tell me you're jus having me on and've put out the lights." He muttered anxiously.

David moved closer, waving his hand in front of Drake's eyes, but it did no good.

"I'm afraid not." Balthazar said regretfully, "It looks like you had a bad blow to the head."

Drake lifted his left hand shakily, reaching over and checking the right arm, feeling around, "And the rest? Why can't I feel my body?" He asked, the alarm in his voice rising just a bit.

"The demon that got a hold of you damaged your spine." Veronica said softly, "It also bit your shoulder while turning you over and did damage to the nerves in your right arm."

Drake's eyes grew watery and he clenched them shut, but then just drew a shaky breath and gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. "Merlin boy make it?" He asked, his voice neutral.

"Ya, ya, I'm right here." David said quickly.

Drake nodded again. "Whatcha do with those chibs Horvath cobbed at Balthazar?"

David looked at Balthazar, mystified.

"The knives he threw." Balthazar translated.

"Oh! Right!" David said, "They should still be right over here where they dropped." He said, hurrying towards where he'd last seen them. He paused slightly at the edge of the circle, but then forced himself to cross out of the circle. He found the knives right where he expected them to be. He gathered them up and hurried back with them. "Got all four right here." David said, holding them up, then promptly felt stupid when he realized Drake couldn't see them.

"One'll do. Jus slot me quick and be done with it." He said with resignation.

"Do what?" David asked, furrowing his brow.

"Are ya daft?" Drake asked, turning his head towards the sound of David's voice, trying in vain to see him, "Top me. Do me in. Waste me. Do ya or do ya not speak English?"

"You, you, you want me to _kill you?"_ David sputtered, horrified by the idea.

"You heard her, mate. I'm a sodding slab of meat. My body's all to cock and I can't even bloody well see! Not to mention the minute I leave this sodding circle Horvath'll be bleeding me dry again. Better to snuff it here. On me own terms." He said, trying to sound like he didn't care, though his voice had wavered several times and his sightless eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

"I... I... I can't." David replied helplessly. "There's got to be something we can do to fix him." he said, looking to Balthazar and Veronica desperately for any hint of hope.

He saw none in their faces.

Drake sighed sadly, "Ya, a real mindfuck, innit? If you haven't the orchestras, jus bung it over 'ere. Aven't got much left, but I got the one arm. I'll give it a bash."

"No!" David said, his voice firming, "You're alive! As long as you're alive, there's a chance."

"Chance for wha exactly?" Drake asked wearily.

Balthazar stood and held up his hand to stop David before he could reply. "Dave," He said softly, "Maybe you should take a step back and think about this."

David stared at him incredulously, "You think I should murder him?"

"It wouldn't be murder." Balthazar said reasonably, "In my day, if your opponent was mortally wounded or injured to the point that he could no longer function, answering his request for a swift end wouldn't even be a question. We would never dishonor even the worst of our enemies by denying him the dignity of an honorable death."

"Ya? Well, well things were obviously much different back then!" David said stubbornly, his eyes watery, "Nowadays we don't use leeches and loose ninety percent of the people who get so much as a paper cut. Modern medicine has come quite a ways since the middle ages. We don't just give in, assume the worst and call it quits at the drop of a hat! We don't say 'oh you're sick or injured so we'll just... just _kill you_ so you won't be a burden on anyone'. We try to fix what's broken before we toss a life away!"

Though his words bordered on insolence, Balthazar tried to keep in mind how hard this must be for one as young as this who had obviously not dealt much with such matters. "Which often leads to needless, prolonged suffering." Balthazar replied evenly. "I know you place a much higher value on life nowadays... but sometimes I think it goes too far. Sometimes they trap people in life, even if they must do it against the person's will! Today they keep people alive who are too damaged to function anymore... yes, their life is saved... but it's just a life of pain and misery. Just... really think about it before you refuse... think about what would be best for him."

"Sometimes people _do_ go too far." David conceded, "Then again, sometimes the person gets better. Sometimes we find a solution to the problem, it just took more than five minutes! I just think we need to explore all the possibilities before we go 'snuffing' him. You compared us to electrical devices. Well if one of my coils got damaged, I can fix it. If we're truly like that, then there has to be a way to fix this!"

"His spinal cord and part of his brain have shut down, Dave," Balthazar said, his voice still calm, though getting a bit tried. "The conduit is dead. It won't hold a current. How do you propose we get around that?"

"Well... um..." David said, starting to pace, thinking furiously, "With electronics we'd just have to wire around the damaged parts. Use a good strong piece of wire and complete the circuit."

"He's made of flesh." Balthazar pointed out, "He'd need flesh to replace what was damaged. Where exactly do you propose we find a new spinal column to circumvent the damaged one?"

"Why? Why does it have to be flesh?" David quickly asked, "Regular people can have artificial hearts and stuff like that. Why can't we wire up an artificial nervous system? Sure, it'd be insanely complex, but... Wait! Wait, I think I remember seeing something in the Encantus..." David said, hurrying over and finding the large tome. He heaved it onto a table and started leafing through it. "There was a sorcerer with an almost completely metal hand. It said he wore gloves and no one ever knew it wasn't real. It said he had full use of it."

"That would be Citray. I knew him." Balthazar said speculatively, coming over and taking over, flipping until he found the entry on the man. He nodded slightly as he read down the entry. "Yes, he fused metal to his hand after it was badly burned during a duel. He somehow kept the metal in a semi-fluid state that allowed it to bend and move at will without hinges or the like. Yes, here's a note about how he accomplished it... hmm... I don't know... using metal as a prosthetic is one thing... we're talking about replacing nerves here!"

"It's worth a shot at least!" David said excitedly, "We could get some metal and fuse it to his spine, see if it will bridge the gap. If we can get it to tap into his smaller nerves before those die too we might be able to reestablish the circuit without having to replace everything."

Balthazar appeared to be silently debating. "To be completely honest, I'm not sure if I can accomplish the intricate spellwork involved. Of course Veronica could probably do it. She's always been worlds better than me at the healing arts." He looked over at the knives David had left on the floor contemplatively. "Horvath always uses silver blades. If it's pure enough..."

"Let's try it!" David said eagerly.

"That is not your decision to make." Veronica said suddenly, surprising them. "I knew Citray as well. We spoke one time about it. He said it was an extremely excruciating experience. If he had known how bad the pain would be before he did it, he said he would have simply gone without that hand. Imagine how much worse it would be doing such a thing to a person's spine... their very brain even! No, that is not a decision that any but this young man can make."

Balthazar nodded, "You're right, of course." He said, coming over and resuming his seat beside Drake. "This will be entirely your decision. It will be very painful, but even I must concede that it may well work... and if it doesn't work, and you ask me to give you a quick end, I swear to you that I will."

Drake looked torn. He was obviously exhausted and utterly drained... but the small flicker of hope was terribly enticing. Yes, it would probably be sheer Hell getting there, but if he could get through it and survive... if he could go back to his life and his adoring fans... That was indeed wretchedly tempting. His brow furrowed, "But wha about that spell? The one Horvath cast on me? I'll be buggered if I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in this sodding dungeon!"

"There may be a way to block that as well... but I doubt you'll like it." Balthazar said grimly.

"Wha? Worse than soldering my bloody spine?" Drake snorted.

"It would require permanently marking you with a Merlin's circle. I could place one on your stomach. It wouldn't be large or powerful enough to ward off demons and the like, but it should block the core of your being from the spell... I would center it around your navel. With syphoning spells, the navel is a sorcerer's most vulnerable spot."

"So you jus mark me up with my own little circle and I'd be all set?" Drake asked doubtfully. "Why would that be so terrible? If you can't tell from the arms, I don't mind a bit of ink, mate."

Balthazar let out a weary breath. "Merlin's circles can only be made with purifying fire. It would be more like a brand."

Drake was silent for a time, looking decidedly uneasy, then he took a deep breath. "Do it." He said firmly.

"Are you sure?" Balthazar asked carefully.

Drake gave a little snort. "Beats the alternative, now don't it? 'Sides, jus do it before fixing up me spine and Bob's your uncle. I won't feel a bloody thing, now will I?"

"True." Balthazar conceded with a little nod. "Very well, then. Hold very still."

Veronica looked like she didn't like this, but she just got up and went over to look at the entry in the Encantus. David strongly suspected it was more to get away from what was about to happen than to brush up on the spellwork needed for the next step.

Balthazar placed his hand over Drake's navel, then closed his eyes in concentration. David watched tensely, then jumped slightly as a circle of green flame just a bit wider than Balthazar's spread hand sprang forth from Drake's stomach. He watched anxiously as the smaller circles appeared, symbols etching themselves into Drake's skin with brilliant flame. Drake's teeth were clenched and sweat started beading on his brow. It was obvious he was feeling something. Most likely the very top of the circle reached up where he could still feel at least some sensation, but he just bore it silently.

David tried not to breath. He hadn't anticipated the smell of burning flesh. He didn't want to look squeamish, but at that moment he just wanted to bolt from the room. And perhaps empty the contents of his stomach.

Veronica tried to ignore the procedure, staring intently at the page before her.

Balthazar finished and the flames winked out, then he held his hand over the seared flesh, letting the soft glow of his power flow down, obviously trying to soothe the burns. Veronica lifted the Encantus and carried it over, sitting it on the floor beside her as she resumed her seat. She gathered the four knives and used her magic to strip away the wrappings that had been placed on the grips to make them easier to hold onto. When Balthazar was done, he looked over at Veronica. She was sitting there, staring down at the gleaming knives, her head shaking slightly.

"I can try to do it myself." Balthazar offered.

She looked up at him in surprise, then shook her head, "No, it is not that. These are made of pure enough silver, but I do not think there is enough here. This will need to be done all at once. Even if he survives it, I doubt he will ever want to experience it again, so doing it in stages will not be an option."

"How much more ya need?" Drake asked in a slightly strained, but reasonably calm voice.

Veronica hefted the blades. "A bit. At least another dagger's worth, but I would like more just to be safe."

Drake held up his left hand. "'Ere. Take 'em. Not like I'll be needin' 'em if this goes tits-up."

Veronica reached over, hesitantly taking the rings from his fingers. She ran her finger over one of the studs on his black leather wrist cuff, then went about removing that as well.

Balthazar took the hint and started removing the cuff from his other wrist. "That's a good idea. It'll probably help to use metal that's already attuned to you, anyway." He commented.

Drake didn't look as if he particularly cared about attunement at the moment. Though he was trying to hide it, David could tell he was more than a little frightened and anxious. Completely understandable under the circumstances. Once Veronica was done stripping his hand of jewelry, Drake reached up, feeling at his neck, obviously searching for something. "Where'd they go?" he muttered curiously.

David looked around and spotted what he was looking for. He went over to where Drake had been attacked, treading carefully over the blood slickened floor. There was something gleaming dully. He made himself reach down and pick up the broken chain and the large pentagram pendant it used to hold. As he started to rise, he saw something else. There were two more bits of chain. He picked them up as well. He couldn't tell if it was two separate chains or perhaps they were merely halves of a single rather long chain. There was a little charm on the longer bit of chain. He quickly caught it as it tried to slide off, then carried them over, setting them before Veronica. That done, he went over to the sink and started scrubbing his hands to get the blood off of them. He quickly grabbed up the lava soap and nail brush when the blood proved to be stubborn.

Veronica cleaned the jewelry with a wave of her hand, then carefully inspected each piece for purity. One of the smaller rings didn't make the cut, being made of gold, not silver, but the rest proved pure enough to use. She flicked her hand at the cuffs and the studs popped free and added themselves to the pile. She also devested two of the rings of stones before adding them as well. After that, she checked the remains of his vest, plucking the large, showy silver buttons off of it to add them to the collection. They were hollow to keep them light enough not to pull on the fine fabric, but every little bit helped. When she was done, she looked the gathered metal over, her brows furrowed.

David could tell she was trying to figure out how to stretch it to work. There was a impressive little pile of silver bits there, but it didn't look like a dagger's worth, let alone the extra she wanted to be on the safe side. Well, this had been his idea... He pushed up his sleeve, looking at the old, worn silver chain that encircled his wrist. It was thick and heavy, and he'd been told it was solid silver. He took a deep breath and sighed it out, then worked the old clasp open and took it off. He moved closer, then held it out to her.

She glanced up in surprise, then accepted it. She stroked her fingers over it, then hefted it for weight. It would easily bring the total silver up to a comfortable amount, even if her estimate was a little off. "Are you sure you wish to part with this?" She asked worriedly, "It feels like it's been with you for a long time."

David just shrugged, the motion giving his injured shoulder a little ache. If he wasn't sure before, that little reminder clenched it. "He needs it, and I don't." David said. He started to shove his hands back into his pockets self-consciously, but then remembered there was some blood on them that he wasn't sure Balthazar's spell had taken care of and folded his arms over his chest instead.

She gave him a warm smile and nodded. "Very well. I think this should do. Let us get started." She reached down and picked up the little charm David had found. "An anhk." She said softly, "The Egyptian symbol for life. Let us hope this is a good omen."

"It was my mum's." Drake said softly.

Veronica looked over at him. "I do not have to use it. It is so small I am sure I can..." She said quickly.

He shook his head, "Use it. It's not like she remembers me anyway." He said morosely.

"Very well." Veronica said uncertainly. She returned the charm to the little pile, then glanced over at him, "Um..." She said a bit hesitantly, "We will need to..." She started to reach for the fastenings of Drakes pants, then pulled her hand back, blushing. "Your whole spine must be exposed..." She finished uncomfortably.

Balthazar picked up on it and unfastened Drake's tight pants. The edge of the symbol had etched past the waistline without any trouble, but for this the cloth had to be moved aside. He glanced up at the young man, but Drake didn't seem upset by it.

"Whatever. Enjoy the show, love." He said with a little smirk, though it seemed a bit forced.

Balthazar rolled his eyes but worked the tight pants a bit lower, then helped Veronica roll Drake over onto his stomach so his spine was easily accessible. Balthazar then finished nudging the pants down to expose all the way to his tailbone.

"I will need help." Veronica said, pointedly not looking at Drake's half exposed bum as she settled herself beside him, gathering the silver on the lap of her gown. "He will have to be held down, especially once motion has been returned to his limbs."

"Can't you just connect up everything first before connecting it to his brain?" David suggested hopefully. "That way he wouldn't even feel it until the end."

She shook her head sadly. "No. The channel must begin at the brain, at the source of our power, and spread out from there. Otherwise it will not flow properly."

"Ok. Ya. Ya. Right." David muttered nervously, going over and trying to figure out how he would best hold down his legs.

"Please do not be offended by this, David." She said delicately, "But Drake is obviously physically stronger than you, even when not in pain. It would be best to leave restraining his body to Balthazar, who can do so with magic."

David blushed and dropped his eyes. "Right." He muttered morosely. He idly noted that Drake didn't make light of that comment. He must be absolutely terrified if he missed that obvious opening!

She watched Balthazar settle into place opposite her, then looked back to David. "Bring a couple of those cloths and sit here. I will need you to restrain his head." She added. "It will be absolutely _vital_ that his head and neck remain properly aligned until this is complete. Do you think you can do that?"

"Um... ya. Ok. Sure." David said nervously, grabbing the little stack of towels she had been indicating from near the old sink and hurrying around to Drake's head. At her direction, he sat cross-legged on the floor. She lifted Drake up a bit and had him move closer. David blushed brightly as she shifted him right up to Drake, arranging the towels so they helped cushion Drakes head in his lap. He knew this was probably the best way to properly restrain him, with Drake's head braced by his thighs, but he felt decidedly awkward having someone's head so close to such a private part of his anatomy. He just tried to ignore it.

Once he placed his hands on Drake's head where she indicated, he could feel the young man trembling nervously. Drake reached up with his good arm and grabbed a hold of David's thigh, obviously just searching for something to hold on to. His hand was trembling as well, his breath quick and shallow, warming David's ankle slightly through the towel.

"I'm sure it'll be ok. Just hold on." David said, trying to make it sound as reassuring as possible.

"Come on, then." Drake's somewhat muffled voice said with forced bravado, "Live or die, let's get this over with!"

Veronica nodded and started waving her hands in an intricate pattern above Drake. Balthazar moved his own hands to hover a scant few inches over Drake, one near the man's limp arm, the other near the small of his back. David couldn't see anything yet, but he was sure Balthazar was either restraining Drake or prepared to.

The pieces of silver started drifting up into the air one by one, starting to glow red as they rose and seemed to dissolve into particles. The particles began swirling slowly around as more and more of the mist-like substance formed as each new piece joined it. By the time all of the pieces had disolved, there was a large, dense cloud of shimmering red swirling above. The color seemed more like a glow of magic than one of heat. At least David prayed it wasn't simply molten. This sounded like it would be painful enough without cooking him!

Veronica took a deep, bracing breath, then nodded to the men, indicating they should be prepared. Once she was sure they had Drake securely, she made a little wave with her hand, obviously beginning the procedure. The glowing dust formed thread-like lines that darted down towards Drake. The first line hit the back of his head near the base of his skull and seemed to slip in without any resistance whatsoever.

There was a pause of a heartbeat or two, then Drake suddenly tensed, letting out a shriek of pain that the towel couldn't hope to muffle. It was all David could do to hold his head down as Drake jerked against his grip, trying desperately to escape the invading threads of silver.

David watched in horrified fascination as he could see the glow of the threads underneath the skin as they laced their way around, though the light wasn't bright enough to show anything it was doing in the skull. Drake's screams only increased, filled with utter agony. Once the threads apparently finished inside the skull he saw them tracing downwards along the spine. A separate flow of the dissolved metal slipped down and pierced his skin, slipping in perhaps an inch below the initial entry point, the glowing strands spider-webbing out under the skin, joining with the first group and spreading. Another flow started about an inch below that.

David's eyes were tearing up, though he didn't know why. Drake's hand on his thigh had tightened until it was clutching bruisingly tight, but he barely even felt it. Just the sound and sight of this was sheer torture to David, and he wasn't even feeling it! Why couldn't she hurry up already? Wasn't it obvious what excruciating pain Drake was in? And yet the little flows of silver just inched their way oh so slowly down his back. The cloud was following the progress, but each spot where the silver had entered retained a softly glowing nub of slowly dulling metal.

Drake's previously limp arm jerked and twitched, but Balthazar quickly seized tighter magical control of the limb, stilling its movement. David looked at it, seeing the glowing strands lacing their way down the arm beneath the skin, not even the vivid tattoo doing much to dim the swiftly exploring strands of light. It was disturbing to watch... and yet he couldn't seem to look away. When they reached the hand it spasmed slightly. David tried to think of the movement as a good sign, but it was hard to see any good in this while Drake was screaming like someone was murdering him. David felt like he was going to go deaf from the sound. The echoing acoustics of the chamber they were in didn't help either. If anything, it amplified and multiplied the torturous cries.

It seemed like this was taking forever! By the time it had worked down to his lower back, Drake's voice had started becoming hoarse from the screams, and yet they continued unabated. David almost lost his grip when the silver reached the lower part of his spine and Drake suddenly convulsed, his legs jerking hard enough to shake his whole body. Balthazar quickly increased his efforts, though it was obvious this was already taxing him.

After what seemed like an eternity, the last of the glowing mist slipped into him. His voice slowly lowered, changing gradually from screams to sobs of agony. As the redness faded away the spider web of silver beneath the skin disappeared from sight, but not everything did. David stared down at the little silver nubs tracing down Drake's back. They were somewhat rectangular, though very rounded... roughly an inch and a half by perhaps two thirds of an inch in the middle of his back, tapering down in size below that and above it as it led up the back of his neck. They reminded him of metal vertebrae, actually. They didn't stick out much, just perhaps a quarter of an inch in the middle of the back, tapering down along with the relative size, pretty much flush with the skin by the time it reached his tailbone and his upper neck. The very first entry point near the base of his skull was flush with the skin, but more rounded, reminding David oddly of an electrical contact point. The skin around the nubs was red and irritated looking, but there was no blood or signs of burns at least.

The sobs trailed away and Drake fell silent at last. As his grip on David's leg finally released, his hand slid to the floor and just lay there. They all watched him, but he did nothing more than breath a bit raggedly.

"Well?" David asked, releasing Drake's head and rubbing the tears from his eyes. "Did it work?"

"I do not know yet." Veronica said worriedly.

"Drake? Hey, Drake, can you feel anything?" David asked.

There was no response. Not even a twitch.

"Drake?" David asked with quickly growing worry.

Veronica reached over, placing her hand on Drake's head. She gave a little sigh. "We will not know for some time, I fear. It was too much for his mind to handle all at once. We will have to watch over him until he wakes. It may take days for his system to acclimate to the new energy pattern."

"But... but what will we do with him? We can't just leave him here for days!" David said worriedly.

"I know of a place." Balthazar said, "Hopefully it should still be there. It's a small clinic. It should be well protected against anything else Horvath might send after him."

"And... um... they aren't going to ask questions about the odd looking bling he has running down his back?" David asked with a little forced smile.

"I know the woman who runs it." Balthazar said, his shoulders slumping a bit wearily as he sat back. "There's no way this is going to go unnoticed. Even if he survives and the repair works perfectly he's still going to bear those scars, not to mention the exposed silver, for the rest of his life. I really doubt even _he_ is vain enough to go through the immense effort of maintaining a glamour the whole time he's in public for the rest of his life. Not to mention that glamours are not as reliable in photographs as they are in person without rather _excessive_ effort. It's doubtful you could maintain a glamour at that level for long without exhausting yourself. I suspect that would rule their use out for _him_. We need to create a logical explanation for this that even those who don't believe in magic will accept."

He heaved himself laboriously up, then walked over, looking at the grisly spot where Drake was attacked. The blood was coating the floor, making it look a bit like the set of a slasher film. It was spattered about quite liberally, and he could see a couple of hand prints where Drake had tried desperately to escape. "I need to move this scene." He muttered to himself. "Especially if it doesn't take and Drake dies. There has to be a scene of the attack, but we can't let the authorities find it here." He nodded, as if making a decision. He raised his hands and started motioning them purposefully around. The blood glimmered, then rose off the floor. Suddenly it coalesced into a central focal point and flashed. A single sheet of paper fluttered down. Balthazar went over and picked it up, looking at the grizzly scene portrayed on the piece of paper. He nodded again, then rolled it up and secreted it away in his ancient trench coat, then turned back. He went back over to Drake and knelt down, eyeing the scars crossing his back and reaching down, placing his finger on the marks, judging the distance between them. He nodded again. "Once he's taken care of, I'll make the arrangements. I should be able to forge a weapon that could have left those marks to leave at the scene. I'll slip into Drake's penthouse to see if I can find any of Horvath's fingerprints around to put on the weapon. The police won't be able to capture him of course, but I don't want them going after the wrong person. Horvath was trapped long before the discovery of fingerprints as a way to identify criminals, so I very much doubt he knows about it and wiped away his prints. Then again, I doubt he cares if he leaves behind evidence."

"And what should I do?" David asked, looking down at Drake. His breathing, though it had calmed a bit, was now much shallower than he liked.

"You and Veronica will stay with him. I'll come to the clinic when I'm done and we'll play it by ear from there." Balthazar replied. "Give me your phone. I'll make the call." Balthazar said, holding out his hand to David.

David reached over and caught a hold of his jacket and pulled it over, then fumbled around for a moment before locating the phone and handing it to him. "You should probably go up to ground level if you want a strong signal. You know how to use it, right?" He asked dubiously.

"Phones have been around for some time now. How hard could this one be to use?" Balthazar said a bit impatiently. He walked over towards the stairs.

David watched him as he went. He was looking it over, poking at the buttons on the sides, then lifted it to his ear before looking it over again. "You have to flip it open." David called after him, "Then hit the send button once you've put the number in."

"I knew that, Dave." He called back. Trying to keep it out of view while he tugged on it to try to get it to open, then held it up to show him once he'd managed it. "See?" He called back before pulling open the gate and disappearing out it.

David just smiled after him, shaking his head.

"What is a phone?" Veronica asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

A/N – Please PLEASE review. SERIOUSLY, it makes a BIG difference in how motivated I am to continue writing.

Ok, so before you start saying that Balthazar not acting 'all knowing' and doing everything himself is OOC, I just want to say I don't think it is. I think it is showing his faith in his love and her abilities. Of course he is the all-knowing teacher when it's just him and his apprentice, but he doesn't think he's God. I'd like to think that by this age he'd have learned what his strong suits are and learned enough humility to concede when he knows someone else could do something better than him, especially when a life is in the balance. Being a Merlinean, IMHO, requires putting the lives and well-being of others ahead of your ego. Oh, and Balthazar has the right to loosen up a bit now that the mission that has driven him with a singular focus for over a millennia has finally been completed. Not to mention he has his girl back now and so I have no doubt he'll finally be getting laid again soon :) I don't plan on overdoing it (Umm... the more relaxed part!), but don't complain if he cracks a smile or laughs on occasion. Also, Horvath is a sadistic bastard who, while he might kill inconsequential people out of hand, does not let his violent tendencies rob him of the pleasure of torturing someone who has crossed him. I believe him explaining to Drake what he was going to do with him and why was completely in character. When he had David in that bathroom in the movie, he was sure to inform him right from the off that he was going to kill him before he even started questioning him. He takes great pleasure seeing the terror and panic in the eyes of his helpless victims, not to mention he had to vent at someone after that epic failure in the park. Not to mention he had to shove the blame off on someone else so it didn't appear as if _he_ was the one who failed.

I just mention these things because some people have been dubious about my portrayals of Balthazar and Horvath. I don't write flat characters. I don't write about a character until they are a person in my mind and I understand their motivations and what drives them. True, it is _my opinion_ of their motivations, but it's all I have to go on, especially with only a one-off movie to go by. I'm not complaining about the comments made in reviews, mind you, I'm just making my standpoint clear.

Just a couple of tidbits of information while I'm at it... I have been asked what the title of this story means. Well, according to online Latin translators: Novo means to make anew, refresh, revive, change, alter, invent; Aetas means an age, stage, period of life, time, or era. I'll let you take what you want from that. Also, the thing with Drake's pupils when he was injured is referred to as a blown pupil, which is a sign of severe brain trauma and is caused by swelling in the brain. The back of the brain right about where the demon would have been smacking his head against the floor is the occipital lobe, which of course controls vision. Also, the thing with the eyes dilating and going dull actually does happen when someone dies. If you're a writer and your characters get injured a lot (especially seriously) I recommend checking out "Cause of Death, a writer's guide to death, murder & forensic medicine" by Keith D. Wilson, M.D. Awesome resource. If you know of any other such resource books, I'd like to hear about them. I'd really prefer something searchable, but I'm leery of querying such things online. Past internet searches comes up way too often in cop shows as evidence that someone was planning something. Don't want to know what they'd think I was planning with the kinds of queries I would run!

Oh, and please don't forget to **Review!**


	3. It's Relative

Chapter 3  
>It's relative<p>

So explaining phones and how they worked to someone who'd probably never seen anything more advanced than an abacus kept him busy until Balthazar returned. He wasn't sure she completely understood his explanation, but she appeared to understand the end results and took him at his word that it really worked. She seemed to be accepting of the (to her) strange and foreign concept. That was good, because she was going to have to deal with a whole lot more changes where that came from if she was going to live in modern society.

"She suggested a couple of stabilizing spells she wants us to cast on him." Balthazar said, handing the phone back to David. "Apparently, they have an ambulance now. It should be here in a few minutes. Go up and lead them in when they get here. It's daylight, so you should be safe from any of Horvath's little minions, and I doubt he stuck around to make sure they completed their job."

"Sure. Sure." David said, nodding quickly and looking down at Drake.

"It's alright. The metal should be well set by now. We can move him." Veronica said, gently shifting up Drake's head so David could slip away. He quickly arranged the towels like a pillow for her to lower his head onto. Drake gave no sign of being aware of them.

David grabbed up his jacket and pulled it on, carefully steering well clear of the little mound of bloody, shredded cloth that was all that remained of Drake's shirt and vest, then hurried up the stairs and stepped warily out of the building. He was apprehensive, despite Balthazar's assurances, but once he moved out from under the overpass that ran above the entrance to the lab and felt the warm morning sun on his skin, banishing the chill of night, he started feeling better. It almost made it feel like he was just waking from a nightmare. It was hard to believe that dark, evil things like those demons really existed when you were bathed in such radiant light. The city was just coming to life around him. There wasn't much in this older, rather run down block, but he could hear the workers calling orders to each other as they unloaded fresh produce into the back of the restaurant a block over, the first honks of the morning commute, the rings of the bells on the bike messenger's bikes as they zipped through the groggy city. He could see the pigeons on the roof of the old warehouse just a bit down the street shuffling away from the steam vents where they congregated for warmth at night and watched them fly overhead, off to search for old folks to feed them bread crumbs most likely.

When he closed his eyes and listened to the waking city, he could almost make himself believe it really was just a dream. The Morganian who'd helped his mortal enemy wasn't laying down there in his lab, his fate as yet unknown. David hadn't nearly been torn apart by demons just... what? An hour ago? He peeked his eyes open, glancing at his watch. Less than that actually! It seemed like an eternity ago, and at the same time if he closed his eyes and allowed himself to think about it, he could see that gnarled, hideous demonic face inches from his own as if it'd been five seconds ago.

He kept his eyes open after that.

He looked over, spotting an ambulance approaching. It was moving very fast, but it didn't have the lights or sirens on. They'd probably been asked to keep a low profile. He was glad. Flashing lights and loud sounds would probably have been a bit too much for his frazzled nerves right now. He cringed as the thought brought a flashed image of glowing red threads cutting through Drake's flesh.

He shook his head to clear it and moved forward as the ambulance pulled to a stop a little ways up the block, unable to stop closer without blocking the overly narrow roadway. The driver had to hop the curb a bit to park even that close. Two people popped out of the doors, a man and a woman. David hurried over to meet them. The driver, a young man, was dressed about how he'd expect a paramedic to look, except of course that he looked barely older than David. The woman looked to be in her mid thirties and was dressed more like a regular doctor. The paramedic hurried around to the back as the woman walked briskly over to him. They both wore somewhat pointed leather shoes, but he wasn't sure if they were magical or if that was just standard footwear for their profession. He hadn't really bothered to look at a doctor's feet before. Actually, he had no idea how to tell a sorcerer (or sorceress) from a regular person unless they did something obviously magical. He'd really have to ask Balthazar about that. Maybe they had a secret handshake or something.

"Are you the patient?" She asked, eyeing the bloodied rips on the shoulder of his jacket. Balthazar had missed that when he'd cleaned him up earlier since it had been on the floor.

David glanced at the grisly rips and the darkening of blood on the cloth, having forgotten they were there, then sighed, realizing belatedly that he'd just bloodied his shirts back up. He could feel the dampness of it seeping through his T-shirt already. He pushed the triviality out of his mind and quickly shook his head, "No. I'll be fine. The patient is inside. Um... it's down stairs. Pretty far down, actually. I don't know if you'll be able to use that." He said as he saw the man pulling a gurney out of the back. Something that bulky would be a real pain on those stairs.

She flashed him a small, professional smile. "Just show us the way and let him worry about that." She said, indicating for him to lead the way with a wave of her hand.

David shrugged and headed for the entrance. The woman kept pace with him. The man followed behind, having no trouble with the gurney despite the rough pavement. David thought those things took two people to maneuver, but apparently not.

"Is it really him?" The woman asked, her voice oddly tense, as if she was trying to mask excitement. "Is it really Balthazar?"

"Ya. I thought you knew him?" He said. He'd assumed this was the woman Balthazar had spoken to on the phone.

"Of course I know him! I just haven't heard from him in so long. It's been over _ten years!_ That may not be much to _him_, but to the rest of us it's an _eternity_... especially when we didn't know what happened to him. The Encantus didn't show anything, but all _that_ told us was that it wasn't a history worthy battle that took him from us. To tell the truth, when he didn't come home I thought he'd..." She stopped speaking, her voice getting tight. She drew a breath and breathed it out calmingly.

"He got trapped in an urn for ten years." David said consolingly while his mind was wondering quite loudly who this woman was, and more importantly who she was to Balthazar. It sounded like they'd lived together!

"Oh..." She said softly, "Oh, God! The one in the shop?"

David nodded.

She put her hand over her mouth, "Oh, I can't believe it! If I'd known, I would have gotten him out of the shop before those bastards from the bank foreclosed on it and sold everything off! What if it'd been broken? I just... I can't even imagine all the horrible things that could have happened to that urn!" She took a breath and dropped her hand, sighing it out, "Still, I guess being stuck in an urn is better than most of the alternative explanations I've come up with over the years. I never thought I'd see him again. When he called I just... I mean I'd know that voice anywhere, but I just still can't believe it. Truth be told, I thought this was some Morganian trick." She flicked her eyes over to him, glancing him over appraisingly before darting her eyes back away. It was obvious she hadn't entirely dismissed the idea. "Then again, with the way the powers were surging last night I knew something must be going on. So who are you, and how do you know him?"

"Me? Oh, I'm David Stutler. I'm his apprentice." David said, opening the door for her.

Her head whipped over as she came to a stop. He couldn't help but notice she was nervously rubbing the rather large silver ring on her finger and he wondered if it might be a magic ring. It was pretty obvious from the way she talked she was well aware of magic, so chances are she was a sorceress.

"Balthazar doesn't take apprentices." She said, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, he took _me_." David said with a little shrug. "I actually didn't have much choice in the matter. Well, technically I guess he made me his apprentice a little over ten years ago when he gave me that ring, on my tenth birthday actually, the day he went into the urn. See Horvath got out of the Grimhold just after we met." he decided to glaze over how that might have happened, "And they fought and Balthazar kind of had to let himself get dragged into the urn along with Horvath to keep Horvath from killing me. I thought I'd just gone temporarily nuts and imagined the whole thing, but the minute I turned twenty, POOF! There he was again. He's very persistant. So is Horvath, actually."

Her eyes had gone round, "You're the _Prime Merlinean?"_ she breathed.

David blushed, glancing over at the young man. He'd come to a stop and was watching him with wide eyes as well, obviously having heard the conversation. "Um... I... um... ya. Yes. I guess so. Mmhmm." He stammered, embarrassed.

Her gaze swept down him once more, "You're the one who's supposed to kill Morgana?" she asked with a slightly dubious tone.

David rolled his eyes. Yes, he knew he didn't look like much, but why did everyone have to act so completely incredulous that he might be able to accomplish something? "Ya. In fact I did already. Last night in Battery Park. That's probably what you felt. She tried to wake all of her dead Morganian buddies before I killed her."

"She... she's dead?" The woman asked incredulously, _"Really dead?"_

David nodded. "Check your Encantus. I'm sure it's in there by now. I'm pretty sure _that_ would have warranted a mention in there, and it seems to update pretty quick."

She looked a bit faint, but almost giddily happy. "God! I never thought I'd see this day!" She said as she went through the door. "Thinking about it, he told me once that he had cast a spell to keep the Encantus from recording his initial finding of the Prime Merlinean, otherwise every Morganian in the world would have been after you! When he vanished with no mention of what happened in there, that possibility never even occurred to me!" She sighed, "It's been years since I checked my Encantus unless I needed a spell, and even then I avoided looking at anything current. It's usually so depressing it makes me want to go into hiding. They outnumber us nearly two to one by now." She let out a little amused breath, "Hey, maybe now you can go and kill off the rest of those evil Morganian bastards so the rest of us could finally live in peace!"

"Um..." David said uneasily. Had Balthazar neglected to mention who she was here to collect? "I... I don't generally go out _looking_ for fights. Morgana just... _forced the issue_. Besides, I... uh... well I... I don't like to just judge people as a _group_. I prefer to judge each person by their own merits."

She gave a little snort, "Oh trust me, they have no merits."

David decided to let Balthazar field this one. He looked back, realizing he no longer heard the sounds of the gurney wheels behind him. He blinked in surprise. The man was still there, pushing the gurney along, but the thin metal legs had folded up beneath it and it was just hovering before him, easily gliding down the stairs. Well, he guessed that answered his question about them being magical once and for all!

He just led them the rest of the way in silence. The woman kept a studiously calm expression, but David could almost feel the barely contained excitement coming off of her. Once they were through the final gate and she caught sight of the glow of the Merlin's circle she stopped waiting for him, hurrying ahead almost dangerously fast on the ancient steps.

David hurried after her. He saw Balthazar stand just in time to catch her as she practically flung herself at him. He hugged her tight for a long moment, letting her feet dangle a good inch off the floor before lowering her back to the ground and easing away so he could look at her.

"Look at you!" She breathed happily, "You still haven't aged a day! Pretty soon I'm going to start looking older than you!"

He shook his head. "No, I'll be aging now, just like everyone else."

"Well good!" She said, giving him a little swat on the shoulder, "Lord knows I don't want to end up looking older than _you_, old man!" Then she appeared to think of something, "Oh my God! Wait until you see Vicky! She just got her driver's license!"

"Already?" He breathed, shaking his head, then dropping his eyes, "She must hate me for just leaving like that. You all must..." He sighed.

"No!" The woman said reassuringly. "No. He told me about the urn." She said, waving vaguely towards David, "I know it wasn't your fault. I don't blame you, and I know she doesn't either. We didn't know what happened, but we knew you never would have left without saying anything unless you had no choice. We both still love you. In fact, she's been talking about you a lot, recently. Come to think of it... she's been talking about you practically nonstop since you would have gotten out of that urn."

He gave her a little smile. "I told you she was extraordinarily sensitive. She probably felt my return on a subconscious level."

"And just why couldn't she have known it on a _conscious_ level?" The woman demanded, poking his chest with her finger, though a little trace of smile remained on her lips. "You obviously still have the number. You have any idea how hard it was to _keep_ that number? The phone company's tried to change it several times and I had to work my influence on one of their techs to get them to move it to our new location. We finally got that bigger building with the nice big grounds two blocks down from where the clinic was."

"That's great." Balthazar said sincerely. His smile faded. "I wanted to call you sooner... but everything was just happening so fast. Horvath was trying to kill Dave and release Morgana so she could destroy the world. I had to focus all my energies on training Dave so he'd have a chance. I couldn't risk being distracted. _Your_ lives depended on it as well. Besides... if things didn't go well and I didn't make it out... you already had to lose me once. I didn't want to put you through that again."

She winced at the though, but quickly shrugged it off. "Well, that's over now from the sound of it, so you have no more excuses! You had better not even _think_ of disappearing before Vicky gets out of school this afternoon. Believe me, she will _hunt you down_ if you try to take off without at least seeing her!"

"I've got a few things to take care of today," Balthazar replied, "But you don't need to worry about me disappearing again. I've found what I've been looking for." He said, glancing over at Veronica, who'd risen and was watching them with silent curiosity.

The woman looked at her, then her eyes went round and darted back to Balthazar. "You mean... this is _Veronica?_ The _actual, real, original_ Veronica?"

He nodded.

She let out a excited breath and hugged him again, then pulled back, "So, would that make her my new mom? Well, step-mom kind of I guess?" She asked mirthfully.

"Um... I'm not sure about the technicalities, and we're not married yet..." He trailed off, seeing Veronica's large eyes. "Oh! Um, she's adopted!" He quickly assured her. "Veronica, I would like you to meet Julie."

"Dr. Julie Blake." She interjected smiling warmly at Veronica.

"I tested her to see if she was the Prime Merlinean at an orphanage when she was about six." He continued, "She was already strong enough to catch my attention, but she obviously wasn't... well, she wasn't Dave. Still, it was a horrible place where they were keeping her and she was deathly ill. I knew if I left her there she'd never make it... so..." He gave a little shrug.

"I think he just got lonely." Julie said with a little smile up at Balthazar, then she looked over at Veronica. "I named my daughter Veronica after you, but she usually goes by Vicky. He always spoke of you so much, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. I hope you don't mind."

Veronica was speechless, but didn't look displeased at least. It was obvious this was just a bit sudden for her.

Balthazar shifted a bit uneasily, gazing down at Julie, "Is Justin still mad at me?" He asked softly.

"No." the paramedic answered before she had the chance.

Balthazar's eyes snapped over to him. "Justin?" He asked incredulously.

The young man strode over and wrapped Balthazar in a huge bear hug. "I'm sorry." He said, his tearful sounding voice a bit muffled as he pressed his face to Balthazar's shoulder. "I was just a stupid kid. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it."

"I know. It's ok." Balthazar said, holding him tightly.

"I love you, dad." Justin whispered against him.

"I love you, too." Balthazar whispered back a bit hoarsely, stroking the young man's short blond hair affectionately.

Julie looked over at Veronica and mouthed, "Also adopted."

After another minute, Julie smacked Justin's arm and he quickly released Balthazar. He blushed, quickly rubbing some moisture from his eyes.

"Think we can see about this half dead guy over here now?" She asked him sweetly, jerking her thumb over to where Drake lay on the ground, a spare blanket having been tucked around him for warmth in the somewhat chilly room. She went over and crouched beside him to get a closer look.

"Right." Justin said, trying to sound business-like, "What happened to him?"

"Demon attack." Balthazar replied. "It torn him up pretty bad. Veronica managed to patch him back together, but he had extensive nerve damage."

"What the Hell?" Julie muttered as she lifted the blanket, spotting the silver nubs running down his back.

"Dave suggested a treatment and we tried it." Balthazar said, coming over and looking down at Drake. "It's an attempt to replace the damaged nerves with a semi-fluidic form of silver. We're not sure if it took or not yet, but he obviously needs to be tended to. I was hoping you could help."

Julie suddenly darted to her feet and took a step back. "This is Drake Stone!" She blurted in shock, looking up at Balthazar.

Balthazar just nodded.

"But... but he's a _Morganian!"_

"Technically, yes. I'm going to have to ask you to overlook that for the time being." Balthazar replied evenly.

She just stared at him in shock.

"He... he saved my life." David offered by way of explanation, "That demon was attacking _me_ and he knocked it off of me. That's how it got a hold of him in the first place. I'd be dead now if it wasn't for him."

"Well then it was most likely just part of some scheme to get you ingratiated to him." She replied stiffly, folding her arms over her chest. "Morganians do sneaky, manipulative stuff like that. You're obviously new to the game if you don't know _that_ yet."

"He nearly _died!_ As it is, we're still not entirely sure he's going to make it!" David replied just as stubbornly, "I really doubt he has enough dedication to conning me to do that to himself!"

"So he underestimated the danger to himself. Either that or he just didn't think it through properly." She replied stubbornly.

Balthazar cut in before David could reply to that, holding up his hand to stop the verbal sparring, "Julie?"

"Yes?" She asked, still glaring at David.

"He's in the circle." Balthazar said simply.

Her eyes darted down and she seemed to suddenly fully realize this. Her mouth moved silently a couple of times, but she seemed unable to form a proper rebuttal for that one.

"In fact, he _lit_ the circle." Balthazar added.

Her eyes darted to him, having gone wide.

Balthazar just gazed back evenly.

She huffed irritably, "Fine. I'll take him, but only because _you_ asked." She said to Balthazar, "But if he wakes up and tries to pull any Morganian crap he'll make his final disappearing act, got it?"

"Fair enough." Balthazar replied.

David wasn't very comfortable with the open acceptance Balthazar had with her threat to Drake's life, especially since she seemed dead set against the young Morganian already, but he guessed Drake should be ok as long as he didn't try to pull anything. And, well, Drake didn't have his ring anymore, so the worst he could do was be irritating, right? And he'd like to think she wouldn't kill him just for that.

David watched nervously as Justin levitated Drake, but he appeared to be competent at levitation. He rotated him around and settled him on the gurney rather gently, actually.

"We'll have to put him on the records as a transfer patient." Julie said, coming back over to Balthazar and drawing David's attention back to her. "I certainly don't want people to think we did _that_ at _our_ hospital. I wouldn't begin to know how to explain that kind of procedure." She said, hunting around in an inside pocket and pulling out a folded sheath of papers, holding them out to Balthazar. "Would you care to do the honors?"

"But of course." He said. He took them, unfolded them, then waved his hand over the papers.

David's eyes widened a bit as he saw the blanks magically filling themselves in. Man! He had to find out how to do that! The school required an insane amount of paperwork to be filled out for anything and everything.

Balthazar handed the papers back, then conjured a large plastic bag. He levitated the remains of Drake's shirt and vest into the bag, then sealed it. "You should dispose of the rest of his clothing. I cleaned it. I hadn't started thinking about the inevitable police involvement yet at the time. Clean clothes on an attempted murder victim would be hard to explain away. Just banish them and we'll say the previous doctor misplaced the items. Or they were stolen. He's apparently a celebrity, after all, so I doubt that would be unheard of. The shirt and vest were the only articles of clothing that were really damaged in the attack anyway."

"No problem." she said with a little business-like nod.

"So... it's a full fledged hospital now?" Balthazar asked as he secreted the bag and its grisly contents away in his ancient trench coat.

"Yep." She replied, "A small, _private_ hospital, but a hospital nonetheless."

"Congratulations. I always knew you'd do well." He replied with obvious pride.

There was a sudden sound like a small crack and Justin jerked his hand back from where he'd been fastening the straps around Drake. He shook his hand as if it stung, staring at Drake in surprise. "He shocked me!"

Balthazar hurried over to the gurney. He held his hand out over Drake and after a moment, nodded. "There's a slight charge coming off of him." He said, looking over to Veronica.

She came over and checked as well.

"Careful!" Justin warned. "All I did was brush his right arm."

She checked closer, holding her hand over the arm in question. She moved her hand slowly closer. When it was about an inch away, a tiny jag of power jumped between his arm and her hand. It wasn't much worse than a static shock, but it alarmed her. "He's not grounded!" She breathed worriedly.

"Grounded?" David asked, inching cautiously closer.

"Normally a sorcerer's power only releases when he wills it out through a channeling charm." Balthazar said, "_His_ is jumping on its own."

"Well, that's not good, is it?" David said worriedly, "Wouldn't that drain him of power?"

"If we can't stop it, yes." Balthazar replied grimly, "It appears to just be starting, but we have to contain it somehow before it becomes dangerous. To him _and_ those around him."

"Well, we have insulated beds at the hospital." Julie replied, "We get a higher than average number of sorcerers going through, and some afflictions cause similar problems. Once we get him there he should be ok until we can figure this out."

"Are you sure...?" Balthazar asked, eyeing the little spark that flicked between Drake's arm and the metal rail of the gurney.

"Oh! Hey! I got this!" David said suddenly as a thought occurred. He hurried over and grabbed up the thick rubber gloves he used when working with wiring and some insulating blankets.

"You just let us worry about the Morganian peacock." Julie said firmly, turning Balthazar and nudging him towards the exit, "You go get your little errands taken care of. Vicky will be going nuts waiting for you if you aren't there when she gets back from school!"

He let out an amused breath, then leaned over and gave her forehead a little kiss. "I'm going, I'm going..."

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

Balthazar stood before the alley. It looked promising. Dark, dead ended, isolated. There was a subway entrance just a block over, so heading this way could have been a logical choice for Drake if the young man were trying to escape from an attacker. He closed his eyes and slipped back through time. Shadows of people flitted by, most of them walking backwards towards the subway entrance, but none came down the street towards the alley he was in... none would have looked into that alley. He pressed slowly back, making sure nothing could rule it out. There was a sudden surge of people near dawn. Workers from a local business that had been arriving to start their shift. They walked by the other side of the abandoned deli the alley ran behind, but none turned, none looked at the innocuous alley they passed every day. He could hear the echoes of their voices, several loud and joking despite the predawn time. They disappeared down into the subway tunnel, then barely a moment later David's shadow walked by, looking lost in introspection. Not even he looked down the alley. He really needed to talk to David about paying attention to his surroundings! He pressed on, pushing the thought aside. Nothing. He went back a further half hour or so just to be absolutely sure, but no one came anywhere near the alley.

He gave a grim smile. Perfect.

He moved into the alley and withdrew the paper. He had to move quickly before someone wandered by and saw him and ruined the location. He released the paper and it unrolled and drifted forward. It dissolved into a vague, hovering cloud, waiting to be disbursed.

He cleared his mind, then let it settle on just the right moment in time. He made time start to move forward once more as he began composing. In his mind he saw Drake running. Horvath caught a hold of him and shoved him into the alley. Drake tried to get away, but Horvath caught his arm and tossed him down just about twenty feet into the alley. There was a struggle.

Balthazar took out Horvath's bowler hat that he'd recovered from Battery park and released it. It flew over to the shade of Horvath, then got knocked off and rolled a short ways away before settling in the shadows between two old cardboard boxes. Horvath hit Drake hard, stunning him. A tiny bit of the blood flew over and dripped to the pavement where Drake fell.

Balthazar needed to explain away the brand, but there was no way Drake would have been silent through that. Luckily, he'd found a solution while at Drake's penthouse. He withdrew a cloth containing a firm rubber gag ball with an elastic strap and let the gag drift over. Horvath shoved it into Drake's mouth and pulled the strap around his head to keep it from being dislodged. Balthazar wasn't sure why the young man had such a thing, or why it already had Drake's saliva on it, but he didn't plan on asking either.

Horvath pulled Drake's shirt up, out of the way. The device he imagined for the brand was similar to a traditional brand, but bigger around and with a shorter handle. The branding surface was a single piece of electrically heated metal formed into a Merlin's circle. The lines burnt into Drake were too perfect to have been burnt into a struggling victim any other way. Horvath branded Drake, who convulsed in agony and managed to break free.

Horvath tossed aside the branding device (his 'imaginary' brand landed branding side down on the ground, burning into a bit of cardboard laying there and sizzling at the grime on the pavement, leaving charred evidence of where it'd landed) and took after him, pulling out weapons like the one Balthazar had forged, one on each hand. They looked like little more than brass knuckles with long, curved, talon-like knives welded to them. Drake ran down the alley, but then stopped when he realized the alley dead-ended at a brick wall. He turned to face his attacker, obviously trying to think (or talk) his way out of this as Horvath slowly approached.

Balthazar paused the image and pulled out the cloth containing the newly forged weapon and held it out before him. The cloth fell open and slipped aside as the weapon rose and drifted over, matching up with his mental picture of the weapon on Horvath's right hand. Balthazar moved back to be well out of the way of any blood spatter, never letting go of the mental image, then resumed the action. Horvath slashed out at Drake's head, but the young man staggered back to avoid it. The tips of the knives caught at the side of his face, but didn't dig deep. The momentum of his move to dodge the blades sent him sprawling on his stomach. Horvath pounced on him, slashing. The weapon he'd forged slashed through the shade of Drake and a bit of the hovering blood darted over, coating the blades and spattering on the alley pavement and up onto the old, abandoned dumpster. Horvath's shade slashed again and more blood splattered, still more slipping down to puddle on the ground, smeared about a bit by the movement of Drake's shade as it kicked at him and tried to escape. Drake wouldn't really have been struggling that much at that point since the talons had practically severed his spinal column, but they were going to have to play down the severity of the damage if they wanted any kind of recovery to believable.

Horvath dropped the weapon Balthazar had forged and its shadowy companion and drew out another weapon. This one was vague, as Balthazar hadn't wasted the time to fully imagine it. It would never be found anyway. It clamped onto Drake's shoulder, digging in with a set metal spikes that left apparent teeth marks in his shoulder when he used it to heave Drake over. He unclamped it from Drake's shoulder, then moved it over to finish him off by ripping out Drake's throat. David's shade had reached the mouth of the alley by that point. Balthazar shifted it, making it notice. Shadowy David called out with a soft, echoing voice and hurried brashly down the alley. It would have been a rash and ill-advised move, especially since he'd had no apparent defensive weapons on him, but Balthazar could (unfortunately) see David doing just that.

Horvath's shade pulled the weapon away from Drake's throat, grazing the skin, and looked over, spotting David. He quickly darted down, snatching the shadowy claw weapon back up and strode forward. David came to a stop, realizing a bit too late what a bad idea this was, and turned, trying to escape. Horvath caught up with him and slashed at him with the claw weapon. It ripped through the flesh of his shoulder and David's hovering blood from the lab separated itself from Drake's, most of it spattering against the alley wall.

Balthazar only had to nip and tuck time by less than a minute to make that the moment the boisterous crowd of workers exited the subway entrance. Horvath heard them and knocked David down and ran for it to avoid being caught, pausing only long enough to grab his branding tool.

David's shade staggered back to his feet, leaving little smears and dribbles of blood as he went, though as in the lab, he didn't seem to even realize he was wounded. He went to Drake and the footsteps he left in the blood in the lab appeared in the blood that had now pooled on the grimy pavement of the alley. David pulled the gag ball out of Drake's mouth so he could breath (By one of the elastic straps, from which it was unlikely they would be surprised not to get a usable print) and it dropped into the blood on the pavement. David then pulled out his cell phone, but Drake's shade convinced him to call his own doctor rather than 911. He called as Drake's remaining blood pooled itself on the pavement where Drake's shade lay.

There was realistically only enough blood for it to have taken about three minutes for the private ambulance to arrive, but the police probably wouldn't know enough about the depth of the wounds to determine that, besides which, he planned on covering the mysterious doctor with magical suggestion to get them to accept it. Of course if he'd left any more blood than that, the police would have been suspicious anyway, because there was probably at the very least a good three pints already spattered about. Much more than that and they would have doubted someone could have survived such an attack and looked at it closer.

He had the vague specters of faceless paramedics arrive. They hurried back, leaving gurney wheel trails in the blood as well as two separate sets of standard issue shoe prints (two different sizes of course). He had to concentrait, going through what would be standard procedure for paramedics and hoping he remembered it well enough and it hadn't changed in the decade he'd been 'away'. David stood back to be out of the way, dripping out the last bit of his blood onto the pavement near the wall, his shoes leaving prints of Drake's blood on the ground below him as he shifted and shuffled around a bit, trying to see what was happening. After the neck brace and the backboard and everything else he could imagine them doing in this situation, the specters heaved Drake up onto the gurney, then hurried out to the waiting ambulance that had been backed up to the mouth of the alley (the gurney wheels leaving vague blood trails on the ground until lifted into the waiting ambulance). David's specter followed, all three specters leaving bloody footprints that slowly faded in intensity as they went. David and one Paramedic went into the back of the ambulance, then the second paramedic hurried around to the front of the vehicle, leaving a trail of by now barely visible bloody footprints until it got into the ambulance as well.

Balthazar gasped, letting go of the scene. He breathed heavily, as if he'd just been running at top speed as he looked over what he'd done. Everything was in place, every spatter of blood where it should be, the marring of the blood pool where he'd lain scuffed properly from his removal by paramedics. Just perfect. He wished he could say this was his first time doing something like this, but he'd unfortunately had a bit of experience over the years. It was getting harder and harder nowadays though. Used to be you'd just have to splash the blood around a bit and the authorities would accept it and move on. Nowadays building the scene from the ground up was unavoidable.

He turned as his breath settled and started out, careful to remove all evidence of his own presence as he went. Now he had to change himself to look like a paramedic and go file the police report... and undoubtedly get harassed by the police who would be highly irate over the delay in filing the report. His shoulders slumped slightly as he made his way back towards his car, wondering vaguely if saving Drake's life was going to be worth all of this effort.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

"There you are!" Balthazar sighed when he finally made it to the hospital room late that afternoon.

David quickly shushed him and got up and hurried over, indicating Veronica, who was sleeping curled up in a chair in the far corner.

Balthazar sighed. "I really need to get her back to the hotel so she can sleep on a proper bed." He said, keeping his voice low.

David let out a little amused breath. "You'd better not even think about leaving before that hyperactive teenager gets back. I think she'd freak out. She's been practically bouncing off the walls since she got here and heard. I had to ask her to go get us some coffee down the hall. Um... after I went out and made sure to pour out the rest of the old coffee so she'd have to make a new pot." He admitted with a little guilty blush. "She was pacing back and forth so fast she was starting to wear through the floor!"

Balthazar actually cracked a grin, "She always was an energetic one. So, how's it going with the patient?"

"Well, the insulated bed thing seems to be working." David said, looking over to Drake. "They treated all the wounds with antiseptic and put bandages on them. Julie said the wounds had been sealed, but the skin surface still needed to be treated and protected to keep the raw skin from getting infected. She even placed a glamor of stitches in case anyone should check it. The bandages also helped hide the insulating material they put over the exposed silver to keep his power from leeching away. They wrapped his whole right arm with it as well. I think they wrote that down as a compression bandage to prevent swelling or something. They also got him on an IV to try to replenish his fluids and such. Apparently the magical blood replacement doesn't completely re-hydrate the body."

"It's not as easy summoning blood out of thin air as one might expect." Balthazar replied with a wry grin.

"No! I didn't mean... I... I wasn't saying that..." David trailed off and made a frustrated sound, then sighed, realizing that Balthazar was just teasing him, "Anyway, they gave him a couple of shots... antibiotics and some stuff that they said will help keep down the errant power, but it'll dampen his magic a bit as well. Not sure if that's really gonna matter, but..." He shrugged, then looked over at Balthazar, "So, how'd your errands go?"

Balthazar let out a low groan, then went over and slumped against the wall. "About as well as could have been expected, I suppose." He replied, "I was able to gather the fingerprints from Stone's penthouse and get in and out without being seen... unfortunately I also found the body of that young Morganian witch I told you about, Abigail Williams, stuffed in one of his closets. Apparently Horvath used the parasite spell on her as well. I thought I recognized that extra charm on Horvath's cane."

"She... she... she was...?" David stammered.

Balthazar just nodded with a grim look on his face. "I banished the body."

"Oh. Ok. Good, I guess." David said softly.

"I set up the scene of the attack in an alley about three blocks away from the lab. The one behind the abandoned deli that's along the path you usually travel. It was the most secluded spot I could find in close proximity. I didn't really like putting it that close, but I didn't know how Drake got there, so he might have been seen in the area. He's rather easy to spot."

"You did that already?" David asked, "I... I thought you'd wait until we knew if this worked or not."

Balthazar shook his head. "Hospitals are required by law to report life threatening wounds that were obviously caused by an attack. Julie has to follow normal hospital procedures on this one. If anything happens, I don't want there to be anything out of the ordinary that would make anyone look closer at this hospital. I had to have the scene set up and report our version of what happened before the hospital reported it to the police. The police have been duly informed and are probably swarming all over the alley by now. I saw a police officer speaking to one of the nurses on my way in as well. They've been told he's still unconscious, but I'm sure they'll be expecting a statement once he comes around. If they ask _you_ questions, you were walking to your lab when you heard a struggle. You went into the alley and the attacker was startled, that's why he didn't finish Drake off..."

"But... but _Drake_ save _my_ life!" David said worriedly.

Balthazar sighed, "This is going to look ritualistic, like it was some Satan worshipper or fanatical magician wannabe. The claw and teeth-like weapons used, the symbols branded into his stomach... Drake Stone is all about mystical symbols and magic and the like. It wouldn't be that far fetched to imagine some crackpot trying to kill him in a way that was supposed to look like it was done by mystical means. Such a crackpot attacking some anonymous physics student and _Drake Stone_ happening along in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night...? That seems rather implausible. We need to go with the explanation that will pose the fewest questions. I'll need to see your clothes to make sure they match the scene I made."

David shifted uneasily, indicating the little white trash bag he'd put his clothing and shoes in. He hadn't wanted them anywhere near him, so they'd given him a fresh t-shirt and a pair of pale blue scrub pants to wear. "They weren't sure if they should clean them yet or not, so we just put them in that bag. Um... can't we just say I just found him like that?"

Balthazar cocked his head to the side a bit, "Then how did you get those matching claw marks on your shoulder?"

"Oh... right..." David muttered, reaching up and feeling the slight stiffness of his own bandage under the fresh t-shirt.

"Listen, there _is_ something I can do that will make it much easier for you to answer their questions, but it'll be unpleasant." Balthazar offered evenly.

David swallowed hard, Balthazar's expression making him uneasy, but he didn't want to screw this up. Getting the police riled up and suspicious was the last thing he wanted to do right now. "How?" he asked carefully.

"I can give you the memories of the scene I left. As you can imagine, it wasn't pleasant... but you would have only been there for the last bit, so at least you didn't see the main attack. I wouldn't offer... but if you actually _do_ 'remember' it happening that way, you can describe that memory without technically lying."

David took a deep, shaky breath, then nodded quickly as he let it out. He knew what a terrible liar he was. If he was going to face authority figures and have to tell this story to their faces, he was going to need all the help he could get. He couldn't even remember what that alley looked like. He rarely looked down it, even though he passed it any time he walked to his lab.

"Very well. Close your eyes." Balthazar said as he set the bag back down and lifted his hands towards David's head.

David quickly complied. Suddenly, he saw himself walking down the street, just as he always did. He heard a sound down the alley as he was passing and looked over. Balthazar was right, this was terrible! From the light of the streetlight across the street as well as the slight lightening of the sky as dawn approached, he could see Horvath there with some kind of clamp-like device hooked onto Drake's shoulder. The blood on Drake's pale skin caught the muted light in a flash of crimson. He saw the device release Drake, then being aimed at the helpless young man's throat and felt a surge of adrenaline. He yelled down the alley. He didn't even remember what exactly it was he called out, he just needed to draw Horvath's attention way from his victim before he finished him off! He remembered running down the alley to try to stop him, then Horvath turning on him. He suddenly realized his peril and tried to escape as Horvath came at him, the blood glistening on the wicked blades. He turned and tried to flee, but didn't get far before the weapon bit into his shoulder. He let out a cry, but his throat was tight with fear and it wasn't very loud as he stumbled against the wall and fell to his knees. Then he heard voices, at least six or seven of them, loud and laughing, sounding nearby. Horvath heard as well and backhanded him. The metal of the claw-weapon handle in his hand made his fist heavy and hard. David's head clocked against the brick wall and he was momentarily stunned. He looked up in time to see Horvath racing away, stooping to grab something in passing, then disappearing out of the alley.

The rest of the scene passed before him, but it became oddly vague. He went to Drake... made a phone call... people came. Everything seemed to be going faster than him. People talked to him, but he couldn't really remember what they were saying. They bandaged Drake up and put braces and such on him until he looked like he was in a cocoon and stuck him on a gurney.

Balthazar concentrated, pushing further forward. It was easier when the scene was only inside their minds.

David found himself in an ambulance. The face of the paramedic beside him swam into focus for a moment as he taped a makeshift bandage over the wound on his shoulder, but he didn't have time to do much more as he worked to stabilize Drake. Then they stopped and took Drake away and a nurse came and got him. They gave him a shot, then stitched up and dressed his wound. Another vague faced man came and asked him about Horvath. He described him and the man drew him. Then he curled up in a bed and slept for a time, then was roused as they moved them both to a different hospital. The hospital he was now in, he realized slowly as he became aware of his surroundings once again.

"You alright, Dave?" Balthazar asked in an oddly gentle voice.

David nodded, though his mind still felt oddly clouded.

"Your mind will clear as it catches back up."

David nodded again, then moved over to a chair and sat down, feeling shaky and a bit nauseous. He was just glad he hadn't seen the whole attack! That would have been horrific! That felt strange and he realized he actually had seen it... kind of... well, not all of it, but much more than that. It was strange. He seemed to remember two different attacks, one in his lab and one in that alley... but both seemed real at the same time.

"You think you can describe what happened in that alley to the police?" Balthazar asked softly.

David nodded, then gave a shudder and hugged himself.

Balthazar actually rested his hand on David's uninjured shoulder, giving it a slight, comforting squeeze. "You reacted exactly as I predicted you would. Your actions were foolish... but brave."

Balthazar gave him a long pause in which David got to feel a warm trickle from the praise.

"We'll have to work on that before it gets you killed." Balthazar then added, making David sigh miserably.

"Anything and everything you remember from that memory you can describe to them. The paramedic you saw was the one I changed myself into to deliver the report and the bloody clothes to the police. They've also been given the sketch of the attacker from your description, as well as the name Maxim Horvath, which Drake mentioned before passing out. If your recollection of the events are vague or missing anything, shock and medication given to you for the pain should cover it. Just don't go beyond what you saw. Don't mention anything you didn't see in that memory, understand?"

David nodded nervously, "Right. Ok." he said trying to rid himself of the image of Horvath with that wicked looking weapon and that murderous look in his eyes. He pushed it from his mind, then tentatively started mulling the two memories over. "Um... Balthazar..." He said tentatively after a moment, "It actually clawed _me_ first, then Drake."

"Just tell it the way you saw it in the alley, Dave." Balthazar replied patiently.

"But... but... his wounds and clothes will probably have some of my blood in them. That wouldn't match the scene in the alley."

Balthazar mulled this over, then nodded, "You're right. Well, it's too late to alter the clothing now, but finding some of your blood on them should be able to be explained away since you were also bleeding at the scene and in close proximity to Drake. Also, the same paramedic worked on both of you, so some cross contamination may have been possible there as well. Your clothes may be a problem though..." He said, grabbing up the bag once more. "If the blades were used on Drake first, the cuts in your clothing should have traces of Drake's blood." He glanced over and the door made a little locking sound. He glanced over at the window shades, but they had already been shut. They were on the second floor, but they didn't want to leave them open in case word managed to seep out that Drake was there.

Balthazar opened the bag and the clothes floated up, then over to float before him, forming into a semblance of a person like the empty suits of armor in Drake's penthouse. He made it spin slowly, looking it over very carefully. "It looks like some blood splashed up on your pant leg while you were walking through it. You don't really need that... or that..." He said, flicking his fingers at a few spots of blood with a small, sweeping motion. The spots came loose and drifted up, glomming together and hanging there, awaiting further commands. He found and removed a few more, then a little glop that had found its way onto the top of one of David's shoes, then put a tiny trace of the blood on the cut parts of the layered shirts before carefully levitating everything back into the bag and sealed it back up. "Where's your jacket?" he asked.

David quickly pointed to where it hung on a hook just inside the door. He'd hung it up without even thinking. Actually it was two jackets he often layered, his favorite red jacket and the dark, tight woven plaid he wore over it when it got too cold for just one. Balthazar went over to it and levitated it up, then directed the little bit of floating blood over, sort of painting it onto the edges of the rips in the fabric, then returned it to the hook.

That done, he sighed and ran his fingers tiredly through his tousled hair, "I've also finished laying the foundation wards on the hotel where we're staying, your apartment building and went back and laid wards on the whole structure above the lab, as well as the tunnels as far as you would ever be inclined to go down them."

"Um... what about Becky?" David asked tentatively, still struggling a bit to bring himself back out of the dazed shock the memory had induced. "Horvath used her to get to me once already. If he's still around..."

Balthazar let out a deep, weary sigh. "Yes, I'll have to work another ward on her place as well, but I don't think I'm up for another full ward like that today. Give her a call. We have a small suite. It only has one bedroom, but there's a couch in the living room she can sleep on for the night, or she can get her own room there if she wishes. Tomorrow I'll go ward wherever she lives."

David nodded. He didn't like putting her out like this, but he could see the necessity of it, "She called me just a bit ago, actually. She should be here any minute."

Balthazar nodded. He looked over at David silently for a moment, then went on a bit regretfully, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to move out of your apartment, Dave."

"My... my apartment? But why?" David asked, shocked by the suggestion.

"Bennet is a nice young man, but he doesn't know what's really happening with you, and I think it needs to stay that way. How are you going to explain to him why he can't go out past dark? I doubt Horvath will try to confront us direct again until he's sure he has the upper hand, but since he knows where we are, he can still send creatures after us. The dark creatures he has learned to control can only roam from sun down to sun up, but that means we have to be in a warded building before dark each night and we need to stay there until dawn. Becky may understand that restriction, but is it really fair to Bennet to ask that of him? He's a young college student with an active social life. Horvath has no reason to believe he's any more to you than a roommate right now, so he's not yet a suitable target. If you leave the apartment, that would seem to reinforce that Bennet means little to you and he may be safe. I placed the wards because your scent will linger there for a couple of weeks at least, during which time there will be some danger, but it should be minimal. If demons were to enter the apartment and Bennet came upon them, he could be killed, but if they were merely watching the building from the outside I don't believe they'd give themselves away by attacking anyone other than one of the targets Horvath sent them for."

David closed his eyes and let out a pained breath. He completely agreed that telling Bennet probably wouldn't be a great idea, and asking him to stay in at night was never going to fly without a serious explanation. Bennet had been his good friend for years. He liked living with him, despite the occasional motivational speech, but he couldn't stand the thought of putting him in such danger. He gave a nod. "Ok. I'll just have to find someplace else." He muttered morosely, trying to figure out where he could possibly find to stay with the measly little living stipend he had from his grants and student loans. He would try to get a job, but with his sorcery training and working on his final project, along with the 'in by dark' rule he couldn't see himself finding the time for one.

It made him suddenly start to think about his future. Was there even a point to trying to finish his tesla coil project? The dangerous part of being a sorcerer had seemed to be mostly over, but now he realized he was just kidding himself. He still had to get rid of Horvath before he'd be safe. Then again, from the sound of it, there would be tons more Morganian sorcerers lining up after Horvath to try to take him out. Would he _ever_ be able to have a normal life with a regular job? In fact, how was he supposed to earn a living with Morganians gunning for him all the time? He'd wanted to be a physicist, but anything in that realm generally came with tight security measures and government checks... would he be able to handle that while being attacked by Morganians at every turn? All of his plans for the future started looking uncertain. And what was even the point of trying to do straight science when you knew that magic existed that blew anything you could do in a lab out of the water?

"Well, unless you find someplace else, you can just live in the hotel as well for now." Balthazar said, breaking him out of his quickly darkening musings. "I believe the suite next to ours is vacant."

David looked up at him, his eyes widening, "Oh, no... I... I couldn't! Living in a hotel... I mean that'd get expensive real quick."

"Don't worry about it, Dave." Balthazar said reassuringly, "I've been around for over a thousand years. Just about everything I've ever bought, made or otherwise acquired has eventually become a valuable antique. Most of them museum quality since I take care of my things. The items in Arcana Cabana may have been lost, but that was only the tiniest portion of what I've collected over the years, and I assure you the rest is still safely stashed away right where I left it."

That was mind boggling. Arcana Cabana had been jam packed with tons of stuff! "Where... where would you keep that much stuff?" He couldn't help but ask. "I mean wouldn't you be worried it'd get stolen while you were away?"

Balthazar gave him a little, humoring smile, "If they can get into the center of that mountain without the special incantation only I know, then they deserve whatever they can get out in the few minutes it takes for the security spells to fully charge and move it to a different mountain."

"Oh..." David said with a hint of wonder. Sorcery rocked! But that thought made his hopes for the future darken yet again. How could his beloved science ever hope to compare? "Still... don't bother. I'll just stay in the lab. You said you already warded that, and it has everything I need. There's no sense wasting your money." He'd already lived there for a week or two back when he first got the lab, actually, but it could get quite chilly in winter and Bennet had offered to share his place. Still, the lab really did have everything he'd need, and he could always just get some more blankets.

Suddenly David was brought out of his musings by the sound of boot heels clicking softly up the hall. He scrambled up and hurried up to the door, opening it, then taking the cups of coffee from the girl's hands before she could see past him into the room. He got out of the way as quickly as possible as Vicky let out a squeal of recognition and practically dove for Balthazar. She giggled ecstatically as Balthazar hugged her, lifting her off the ground with his tight embrace, then she planted a big kiss on him, leaving a lip-shaped smudge of black lipstick on his cheek.

"Let me have a look at you." Balthazar said after a moment, easing his hold on her.

She dropped back down to her feet and stepped back obligingly.

Balthazar just stared in amazement. She was petite, with pale skin and short bobbed jet black hair. She had black lips and nails and thick black eyeliner that made her brilliantly blue eyes seem almost startlingly bright. She had on a very short black skirt that was many alternating layers of cloth and lace, a thin black top with a tight leather vest on top of that, silk-like fingerless gloves that went half way up her arms and knee length stockings that were thick horizontal stripes of black and white, her feet tucked into form fitting black leather boots with pointed tips. The whole ensemble was dotted with silver chains and snaps, and there was a black leather choker around her thin, pale neck bearing small silver spikes to match the three inch leather cuffs on her wrists.

While her appearance was a bit startling, Balthazar just gave her a warm smile without missing a beat, "You've grown into a lovely young woman."

She giggled and threw herself against him once again, hugging him happily.

"Let him breath, Vicky." Julie said as she walked in, her voice having a mildly amused tone.

Becky followed hesitantly behind her, obviously having requested to be led to the room. When she spotted David, she hurried over to him, slipping her arms around him and looking worried. "What happened?" She asked, her eyes wide, "And why couldn't you talk about it on the phone?"

Julie went right over to the bed, pulling on thicker than normal rubber gloves and checking on Drake.

David just nodded over towards Drake, "We're having to keep things a bit quiet."

Becky's eyes followed over to the bed, there was a short pause, then her eyes shot even wider. "Oh my God! Is that _Drake Stone?"_

Balthazar flicked his hand at the door and it quickly, but quietly shut.

"I know! Right?" Vicky giggled, "He is like a _GOD!"_ She squealed excitedly.

Julie glared over at her daughter, who quickly wiped the excited look off her face and blinked at her innocently as if she hadn't just gushed adoringly about a _Morganian._

"Ya." David said, gazing worriedly at Drake. He looked rather flush. "We were attacked. He took the brunt of it. It was Horvath." Well, it was Horvath's doing at any rate. He'd wanted to tell her Drake had saved his life... but he had conflicting memories now... not to mention he didn't want to say anything to her that would contradict what he'd tell the cops. At least not until things calmed down.

Becky just blinked, stunned at the implication that Drake Stone might actually have _real_ magic... but not absolutely sure she could ask him to verify that in front of these other people.

"How's he doing?" Balthazar asked Julie, his arm casually draped around Vicky, who was still clinging to his side as if she was worried he'd disappear if she let go.

David had already just filled him in, but he could tell by that slight underlying hint of pride in his voice he just wanted to hear Julie talk like a doctor. It was hard to believe Balthazar had anything even remotely like relatives, let alone children! Yes, he was like a mentor to David, but he just didn't seem like the type who would have signed up to do something like raising a child. Teaching them, sure, he could see that... but he just couldn't picture Balthazar getting kids ready for school in the morning. Making sure they brush their teeth and do their homework and simple little everyday stuff like that. It was just mind boggling.

She let out a little, frustrated breath. "He's being irritating already, actually." She said as she used a small device to check his temperature in his ear. "None of the usual monitoring equipment can be used on him without shorting it out, and he's starting to run a fever. It's probably just his body's defenses reacting to the foreign substance inside him. I've been trying to keep his presence here under wraps so the media doesn't catch wind of it, but it looks like I might have to bring another nurse in on it. He's going to need someone to stay with him and watch over him. I'm just going to have to figure out who I can afford. We have a doctor and two nurses out sick right now, and we don't exactly have a huge staff, so we're already a little spread thin at the moment."

Vicky's arm shot up, "I'll watch him!" She volunteered immediately, bouncing on her toes with excitement.

Julie gave a little snort. "Not likely, young lady! You have school tomorrow, and besides which, I don't want you anywhere near him. It's bad enough you bought his DVD behind my back. Don't think I don't know about that!"

Vicky just blushed and grinned.

"Who's the little Goth hanging on Balthazar?" Becky asked David in an undertone, her brows furrowed.

David wasn't paying attention to the question, "I'll stay with him." He said without hesitation.

They all looked at him in surprise.

"What?" David said a bit defensively, "It's not like I have a real busy schedule, and I'm moving out of my apartment, so staying here would be a big step up from the lab." He looked over at Balthazar, "Becky will be needing that spare couch, so I might as well stay here. You said it was safe here, right?"

Julie just gave him a wry grin, "Nothing evil is getting in _my_ hospital. Fine. If it's alright with Balthazar, I'll have them bring in another bed. This room is supposed to be a double anyway, and I'm certainly not going to turn down free help!"

Balthazar didn't look happy, but he saw the determination in David's eyes and gave a grudging nod.

David just smiled, relieved he didn't have to argue it out with him.

"Umm... why exactly do I need a couch?" Becky asked.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

A/N – well, my email's back up and running (finally!) and I've run through the movie quite thoroughly, so I fixed up some little booboos in chapter 1. I reposted chapter 2 as well because I know I made some small changes. I can't remember anything particularly significant, but I might as well while I'm at it :) And yes, I did note on my last look through that the description of the entrance to the lab appears to match the first time it was shown, the second time (beginning of the car chase) they showed it from the other direction and you suddenly see that it appears to be some kind of dead-end, garage type area... but I'm leaving it as a narrow underpass since it only contradicts about a second and a half of the canon material and it isn't exactly _vital_ information... not to mention that they needed to talk before entering the door, and they'd hardly have time for that if they parked ten feet from the door. I'm tired and achy and probably should go through this one more time, but I don't have the time right now, and if I screwed anything major up I will just repost it later. Don't forget to please REVIEW! Remember, that's the only kind of payment fanfiction writers get :)


	4. Frequency

Chapter 4  
>Frequency<p>

David was glad when everyone else had left. Filling Becky in on what was going on (at least as far as the temporary housing situation) was something he had dreaded... and his apprehension was completely justified. Oh, she took the news quietly enough, but the fear and worry in her eyes was hard for David to handle. It was obvious she had never anticipate the danger continuing any more than he had. At least David felt a little better knowing he wasn't the only one who had been hopelessly naïve, but he wished he didn't have to pile this on top of everything else she'd had to deal with being around him.

Once Becky had left with Balthazar and Veronica, Julie had shown him where the call button and everything was. Once that was done, she had to shoo her daughter out (amidst serious protest) and told him she'd be back when she was sure Vicky was settled into her homework properly. Once he was finally completely alone (well, other than Drake of course, but it's not like he was making much noise!), he was finally able to wind down a bit.

He wasn't usually very fond of just sitting around accomplishing nothing... but at the moment he found himself content to just sit there in the somewhat uncomfortable hospital chair and listen to the soft sound of Drake breathing. His stress level had been so high over the last twenty four hours his hands were still shaking quite badly. The trembling had calmed down before, but that little 'memory' Balthazar had given had given his nerves another hard rattle. He just folded his hands together to keep them still and tried to will them to stop. There was a television mounted to the wall near the ceiling, but he didn't feel like watching it. Besides, if it was on he wouldn't be able to hear Drake.

Now and then he'd look over at Drake and watch his chest rising and falling, almost as if he needed a visual confirmation to make sure his ears weren't betraying him. The fact that Drake's health was still very precarious was disturbing to say the least. He tried hard not to think about it. He wished they could put monitors him. The soft beeping of a heart monitor would have been reassuring. Not to mention that after watching so many scenes from movies and tv shows set in hospital rooms it seemed weird being in one without hearing that sound.

After a time, he got up and wandered over to the window. He opened the blinds and looked out. Not much of a view, really. There was a two lane road with a single turn lane for the hospital that was currently packed with rather slow moving cars and trucks. He glanced at his watch. Ah, it was the tail end of rush hour. Other than that, there was just a couple of old, nondescript buildings across the street. That was about it. He gazed down at the lawn. There was a very distinct design to the landscaping. It took only a moment to realize he was looking at a small portion of a giant Merlin's circle! He leaned closer to the glass, looking left and right. It looked as if the circle encompassed the entire building and a good portion of the parking area. No wonder they'd been so sure this place was safe!

David started and spun around as the door opened, then tried desperately to keep from hyperventilating when he saw the police officer entering the room. He was tall with broad shoulders, military-cut black hair, a strong, clean cut jawline and rather piercing blue eyes. He looked perhaps thirty or so, his gaze quick and sharp. David somehow doubted much got past this man.

The cop glanced at his notepad, then up at David. "You David Stutter?"

"Stutler." David responded without thinking.

"What was that?" The cop asked.

"It's... it's... it's Stutler. David Stutler." He said, wishing he didn't sound so nervous.

The cop glanced at his pad again. "Oh. Right."

David got the distinct feeling the man had already known exactly how to pronounce his name. What he could learn from finding out if David would be willing to correct him or not David wasn't sure, but he had little doubt it had been some kind of little psychological test. That the man was already testing his honesty (or whatever that had been a test for) made his nervousness double. How was he supposed to try to put something past someone like this?

"I'm officer Battani, and I'm here to get your statement on the attack that occurred this morning. So, you're the one who scared off the attacker?" He asked with a slightly dubious tone, his gaze sweeping down David, his appraisal of his ability to scare off so much as a kitten obviously not particularly high.

"No..." David said, remembering the memory Balthazar had given him. "I... I mean I distracted him, but actually there were other people that technically scared him off. Sounded like six or seven of them."

The cop furrowed his brow, "Nobody mentioned any other witnesses."

"No... no... they... they didn't see anything. They were talking. And... and laughing. They were walking by, talking and laughing but... but on the other side of the deli. Well, what used to be a deli. It's just an abandoned building now..." David said, finding himself floundering helplessly under the cop's suspicious gaze.

"So some loud, but apparently _blind_ people came along and scared the guy off. And why exactly didn't you call 911?" The man asked shrewdly.

Oh man! Balthazar hadn't provided him a good answer for that one, and he couldn't really remember why he had from the memory! Why on earth _would_ he have called someone other than 911? "I... I... uh... I mean..." He stammered helplessly, trying to stall for time so he could think something up. He was so tense he practically jumped out of his skin when someone near the doorway made a soft tisking sound. His gaze darted over, seeing Julie standing there holding a tray, pushing the door closed behind her with the other hand.

"David!" Julie said in a somewhat stern, but oddly gentle tone as she walked in, "I told you to stay sitting and try to relax until I got back."

"I... I... ummm..." David sputtered, gesturing vaguely to the cop.

"Sit!" She said in that no-nonsense doctor tone, pointing imperiously at the chair.

David quickly complied.

She pulled over a wheeled cart and set the tray she was carrying down on it. The tray held a small pitcher of water, an empty cup, a tiny plastic cup with a couple of pills in it... and a small vial and syringe. David's eyes went wide at the sight of the needle and he started praying that it was something more for Drake. When she strolled over and took hold of the curtain divider and pulled it over, blocking Drake from easy view (yet leaving the tray on David's side of the divider) he got the sinking feeling it wasn't.

"They finally gave me the records so I could know what they'd already given you." She said as she came back over, ignoring the cop entirely, "Looks like they just slapped a band-aid on and forgot about you! All they gave you was one little shot for the pain, which should be wearing off by now. Not so much as an antibiotic! I'm surprised they bothered to send in the toxicology. This should cover it for now." She said, taking the vial and needle and measuring out a dose.

"I... I... I..." David stammered, drawing in on himself a bit to make himself a smaller target for the impending needle, subconsciously hugging his arms to himself. He was really wishing he had his jacket back on about now... but somehow he thought she'd object if he went over and got it.

"You hate needles. Yes, I know. Doesn't everyone? I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with it." She said, setting down the vial and pulling out a little square packet containing an alcohol swab.

"I need to get his statement before you get him all whacked out on drugs." The cop interjected impatiently.

She looked over at him directly for the first time, giving him one of those long, hard looks. Then she just put the needle carefully back on the tray before addressing him. "May I have a word with you in the hallway?" She asked in a studiously polite voice, though there was no real question in her tone and she didn't bother waiting for an answer.

Officer Battani let out a slightly exasperated huff, but tucked his notepad away and followed her, knowing by the attitude it was nonnegotiable.

She grabbed David's jacket off the hook by the door on the way out for some reason. They went out into the hallway, and she closed the door, but not completely.

David shifted over. He could see a thin slice of them through the crack in the door, and when she spoke again, though her tone was low, he could make out what she was saying.

"I want you to take a good look at this, officer." She said, and it looked like she was handing him the jacket, then folding her arms over her chest.

She waited a moment while the man looked at the jacket. "Four parallel blades cut through that young man's shoulder this morning, and it is a certifiable miracle that they didn't do grievous, permanent damage to the arm, or slash open an artery and make him bleed to death. You look at him and you see what? A scrawny, nervous physics nerd from NYU, and you'd be right... But that boy saw someone being hurt... being practically rip apart right in front of him! And did he run away like most kids his age would have? No. He tried to stop it. He went into that alley with no weapons, no real fighting skills and no thought other than stopping that man from killing someone. Admittedly it was a pretty stupid move, but at least he had the brass to try to do something. Still, at the end of the day, he's still a scrawny physics nerd who's probably led a rather sheltered life. What he saw was horrific. No one should have to see something like that. That man, given another few second, would most likely have killed him, and I have no doubt he realized that. By the time that man ran off, David was already so far in shock he didn't even realize he was hurt! And if you want to bitch about him not calling 911, then you'll have to wait and complain to that Stone fellow when and _if_ he ever wakes up. David was so deep in shock by the time he thought to call someone that he would have called a pizza delivery place if Stone had told him to. David should have been started on medication the minute he got to the doctor, but they were too busy dealing with Mr. Stone to worry about the poor kid who just happened to stumble across him. This was a _major_ trauma. You saw how jumpy and nervous he is. From what I'm told, he's a bit high strung to begin with, so something this major could easily push him over the edge. If I don't get him calmed down and resting, he could succumb to post traumatic stress, and then you'll get nothing out of him... and rest assured, if you badger him and he goes catatonic, I will be _very_ sure it goes in the report exact what, and more specifically _who_ pushed him over the edge!"

"You normally get this protective of your patients?" The cop asked with a hint of smirking admiration.

"Yes. Especially when they're _my cousin_." She replied evenly.

David's eyes went wide. Why had she said that? It took him a moment to realize that if Balthazar was her father (still too bizarre to contemplate) and Balthazar was telling people that David was his nephew... that _would_ technically make him and this doctor cousins. He certainly hoped Balthazar could magic up some documents proving their fake kinship if required.

"That kid's your cousin?" Officer Battani asked, not bothering to mask his surprise.

"Yep." She replied without hesitation, "We're not _close_ and I've barely even met him before now, but he's still family."

The cop eyed her, "What are the odds of him getting transferred to _your_ hospital?"

"Very good, actually." She replied, "When Mr. Stone's doctor was done with that experimental procedure she performed on him, she had pretty much reached the end of her usefulness. Don't get me wrong, she did amazing work, and if the implants she placed on his spine worked as they are supposed to it will be a rather astonishing accomplishment, but she didn't have a large enough staff or the facilities for any kind of long term or real emergency care. My father was David's emergency contact, so when he found out what had happened he called me. I told him he could transfer them both here. Why get insanely high hospital bills when he could be treated here for free?"

"You're treating them for free?" He asked dubiously.

She actually gave a snort. "I'm treating _my cousin_ for free. Hopefully Mr. Stone's medical insurance is generous, because it doesn't look like he's going anywhere too terribly soon. The only reason I even thought about taking _him_ in the first place was because my father asked me to. He thinks David's gotten emotionally invested in Stone's recovery. I'm not a psychologist, but I suspect David would just be worrying himself to death if he didn't know how Stone was doing, which is why I'm having the second bed moved into the room for David to stay in. Well, for a day or two at least. I want to keep an eye on him, make sure he's coping properly, not to mention I need to keep an eye on him until the complete toxicology report comes back to make sure there was nothing harmful on those blades. I wouldn't put it past a nut job who would do something like this to poison his blades as well. Besides, we don't have a lot of rooms to spare at the moment, and I plan on treating Stone like any other patient for his stay here." She paused, then took a deep breath, "That said... I have a few concerns regarding his presence here. We're a small hospital, and we don't have an inordinately huge security budget here, so Mr. Stone's presence needs to stay very quiet. Only a few _very_ trusted staff members and the police know where he is, so it'd better not get out! The last thing I need is a media circus. We are too busy trying to save lives to hold press conferences and dodge paparazzi."

"Well, obviously we'll be posting officers here for Mr. Stone's protection." The man reassured her, "He was the victim of an attempted murder, after all. We'll be keeping an eye on him at least until they catch the whack job that did this."

She sighed deeply, "Fine, but only if you don't tell them who they're guarding and not at his door. I don't want to call attention to him. They can watch the entrances and maybe one at the nurses station down the hall."

Battani shifted and made a little dismayed sound, obviously not liking that, but finally conceded. "Fine. But if there's another attempt on him..."

Julie held up her hand to stop him, "I'd like to think his attacker wouldn't be stupid enough to try something someplace public with lots of people around, but if there _is_ another attempt on his life in _my_ hospital, I can assure you I will be transferring him out the moment it's safe to someplace bigger and better equipped to deal with the media and homicidal maniacs. I'm not about to put my other patients in danger over this."

"Probably a wise choice." He replied with a smile.

"Now, if you don't mind, I need to go medicate my cousin before he freaks out completely."

"Ya, ok. But I _do_ still need to question him."

"Just wait until he's calmed some and be _very nice_." She said warningly, "I'll be staying with him until you're done to make sure he's ok."

Officer Battani just held up his free hand in a little surrender gesture, then handed the jacket back to her.

The door opened and David shifted back straight in his chair while Julie replaced his jacket on the hook, trying to pretend he hadn't been eavesdropping.

Julie came right over, snagging up the alcohol swab package and ripping it open. David didn't want to look like a squeamish wimp, but needles terrified him! He let her take his arm, his breathing doubling as she swabbed the crook of his elbow with the cold, pungent alcohol. The trembling was coming back when she picked up the needle, but then she paused, furrowing her brow and looking back over her shoulder towards where Drake was hidden by the curtain. "Did you hear something?" She asked curiously.

David's eyes darted over towards Drake. He shifted to the side, just close enough to the edge to be able to glimpse on the other side of the curtain. Drake was a bit flush still, but he looked to be breathing normally.

"There. That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Julie asked.

David's eyes darted back over and he saw her pulling the needle out of his arm. He hadn't even felt it! The officer behind her was smirking, obviously amused by her little distraction and sneak attack methods.

She then went over and disposed of the trash, slipping the needle into a red sharps container mounted to the wall before returning to the tray. She filled the cup with water, then handed it to David along with the little cup with the pills in it.

Well, pills he could deal with. They were small at least. He tossed back the pills, then quickly drained the cup to wash them down. After that she had him relax while she checked his blood pressure and heart rate and such. By the time she was done, his trembling was gone and he felt more relaxed than he could ever remember feeling. He didn't know what she'd given him, but it rocked! Man... if only he could get this stuff in a daily pill or something. Heck, he might even be willing to deal with a needle if it was done as painlessly as she'd done it and it kept him feeling like this. He'd never even realized how wound up he usually was until she'd drugged him. He felt like he could just melt into this chair and be content just breathing and staring at the ceiling for a couple of days or so.

"We'll just let him mellow for a few more minutes." Julie said, straightening back up. "Besides, I have to check on my other patient while I'm here. He was running a temperature. I have to see if the medication I gave him to bring it down is working."

She went over behind the curtain. David shifted over, gazing after her. She pulled on the thick gloves and started checking Drake over.

Despite the pleasant, calming drugs she'd given him, he still felt a trickle of worry when he heard her let out an obviously dismayed breath. He watched her with growing concern as she hurried for the door. "Give me a hand, officer." She said briskly as she went, not pausing to see if he was going to agree. He looked surprised, but slipped his notepad back away again and followed her, curious as to what she needed.

They returned in a moment, both carrying numerous iced gel packs. She hurried back over to Drake, unceremoniously dumping her armload on the bed beside Drake. "Careful. Don't touch him with your bare hands." She said as the officer came to a stop at the end of the bed, depositing his next to where Drake's feet lay beneath the sheet. "Here." She said, tossing him the spare pair of gloves.

"Um... what exactly am I supposed to be doing?" He asked dubiously, eyeing the gloves.

"The medication doesn't appear to have done anything. His temperature is a hundred and three and still rising from the look of it. We have to get it back down. The implants they put in him are hard to explain, and I'm not sure even _I_ completely understand them or what exactly they're doing, but at the moment they are maintaining a mild electrical current through his body. Touch his skin without protection and you'll get a Hell of a shock. Obviously, that makes it unsafe to allow him to get too wet, otherwise I'd be getting him into an ice bath. The gel packs are the safest option for him right now." She said as she carefully tucked several gel packs under each of his arms.

"Um... alright then. Where do you want these?" He said dubiously as he pulled the gloves on.

"We have to put them where they'll do the most good. Arm pits, groin and the soles of the feet. Those locations should cool him down the fastest." She replied in a businesslike tone, lifting the sheet and starting to tuck ice packs underneath it.

He looked decidedly uneasy, "I'll just take care of the feet." He muttered, pulling the sheet off of Drake's feet.

After a moment of trying to figure out how to get the packs to stay up against his feet, he took the spare blanket they'd left over the foot of the bed, rolled it up and used it to prop them into place.

She finished packing the rest of the packs into place, then looked his work over before nodding. "That'll have to do for now. You can have your little interview with David, then I can check back to make sure it's helping."

David straightening back up in his chair again as they came back over to him. He knew he should probably be horribly nervous once again, but he wasn't. These drugs were really great! Unfortunately, they didn't seem foolproof. He still felt an irritatingly persistent worry in his stomach over Drake's condition.

Julie came over to stand behind his chair, resting her hands on his shoulders reassuringly, being careful of his bandage. Battani pulled out his notepad and pen and started asking questions. David called up the 'memory' Balthazar had given him and ran through it, telling the officer everything he remembered. When he was done, he was asked specifics on certain aspects. He couldn't always remember, but shock was a truly wonderful excuse for memory lapses.

David was surprised when he glanced past the officer, realizing that a second bed had been somehow wheeled in while they spoke without his even noticing.

David's attention was brought back around as Julie's hand suddenly tightened on his good shoulder slightly.

"And when was that?" Battani asked, looking at him intently.

"Huh?" David asked, trying to remember what he'd just asked.

"You said you'd met the victim before. When was that?" Battani repeated.

Oh man! He really needed to stay focused! Why had he admitted he'd met Drake before? His heart should be racing at this point, his palms sweating... but he just felt that vague calmness that seemed to be increasing. "Oh... um... at school." He replied honestly. He saw no reason not to. He had little doubt other people had seen Drake at the school. As Balthazar had said, Drake did rather stick out. "The first time I met him was in the men's room over in the NYU Activities building. He seemed kind of irritated when I told him I had no idea who he was." David said, actually fighting a little grin as he remembered the look of shocked indignation that had crossed Drake's face. "I didn't stay long. He went into one of the stalls and I left." He said, skipping over the fact that Drake had been flung there by magic and was unconscious at that point. "I did look him up on the internet later though. Apparently he's a bit of a celebrity. I don't really watch a lot of tv." He added. Well, he knew for a fact the cops could look through his internet search history, so there was no reason to hide that fact, and it might actually look weird if he _didn't_ admit it. He'd Googled him for the first time just a couple of days before being the only witness to him being attacked? Even David had to admit that would have looked like a 'strange' or 'convenient' coincidence otherwise.

"Why would he have been on campus?" The officer asked, furrowing his brow.

Julie let out a little snort, "From what I've heard, Drake Stone is a bit of a publicity hound. Actually, I have a different term for it, but I'm trying to be polite. He likes to mix with the public whenever he can. My daughter is, unfortunately, a big fan of his."

He glanced up at her, staring at her for a beat, then said, "Oh. So... is your _husband_ a fan as well?"

She let out a little amused breath. "No idea. If you ever happen upon him you can ask him. And while you're at it, you can ask if he happens to have the last fifteen years worth of child support payments he's missed on him."

"I'll be sure to do that if I ever meet him, ma'am." He replied evenly. "Sounds like you're better off without him."

"Obviously. I don't need a man around to help me raise my daughter, especially one like that. We do just fine on our own." Julie said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If she's anything like you, I'm sure she's a strong and lovely young woman." He said warmly.

Oh wow... was this guy actually flirting with Balthazar's daughter? While on duty no less? David carefully fought a smirk as he imagined what Balthazar's expression would be if he were here. David's eyes drifted shut as he amused himself imagining the scene.

There was a little, somewhat awkward pause, then Julie said, "Well, are we done here? I should really get David into bed before he has to be carried."

"Oh..." He said, glancing down at David and obviously noting they were losing him. "Sure. I think I have enough for now." he said quickly, "Let me give you a hand."

"David." Julie said gently.

David blinked his eyes back open, gazing up at them groggily. "Hmm?"

"Come on, let's get you into bed." She said, urging him to rise.

He got up with some help, then found himself leaning rather heavily on the officer as he was led over to the new bed. The man had to practically lift him into the bed, careful to avoid jarring his injured shoulder.

"Don't worry about Drake." She said as she tucked the blankets around him, "I have some paperwork to finish up anyway, so I'll be checking back on him often and bringing fresh gel packs until his fever breaks. Justin was just coming off a night shift when we picked you two up, so he'll be back on duty around eleven and has already agreed to take over the checks then. You just get some sleep, alright?"

"Mmm..." David mumbled, his eyelids growing heavy. He watched with detached amusement as Julie turned back to the officer, who was still lingering.

"Um... The clothes you were requesting are over near the door in that white bag. Is there anything else I can help you with, officer?" She asked.

"It's Charles. Officer Charles Battani. I've got to go get this report filed, but here's my card. If you have any concerns about security or _anything_ else, please don't hesitate to call." He said, handing her a business card.

She took the card, her cheeks coloring a shade or two. "Oh. Thanks."

"No, thank_ you_ . You've been very helpful. I'll have the police photographer wait until morning to come and take pictures of the wounds so they can rest. If I have any more questions, I'll be in touch."

"K..." She muttered, tucking the card away as she watched him snag up the bag and leave. When the door closed behind him, her eyes dropped down to David.

David gave her a tired little smirk.

She rolled her eyes, her cheeks tingeing a shade darker. "Oh go to sleep already!" She said with a little embarrassed smile as she pulled the curtain aside and hurried over to check on Drake.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

David woke suddenly. He lay there, unsure what had woken him. He wasn't sure what time it was, but it felt late... or perhaps even early morning already. He listened, slowly comprehending what he was hearing. Ragged panting with an edge of pain to it. He struggled to sit up, shoving off the blankets. The lights were off, but there was a green glow coming in from the window that made it bright enough to see. Drake shifted, his head tossing to the other side as his chest rose and fell rapidly.

David got off the bed, ignoring the cold shock of the chilled linoleum against his bare feet as he hurried over to Drake's side. Drake shifted again and one of the gel packs they'd been using on him was dislodged, falling down to the floor. David quickly retrieved it, but far from being cold, it now felt more like a heating pad it was so warm. Even in the dim light he could see that Drake's skin was drenched with sweat, his half bleached hair matted down and clinging to his skin. There were some kind of dark lines on Drake's skin coming out from under the bandage on his arm, covering his whole shoulder with a spider web of the worrisome marks, the ends starting to trail across his chest.

The sight of those lines stirred an instinctive fear in David. He felt this unreasoning certainty in him that those lines were a poison... one that would kill Drake if it spread much further.

As if hearing those thoughts, Drake suddenly jerked. David took a step forward, wanting to help him, but he could already feel the power radiating off the feverish man, making the hairs on his arms stand on end. He tried to reach for the call button, but Drake convulsed and power rippled out from him. Sparks shot out of the call button, then the light on it went dead as a little trickle of smoke came from it.

David wasn't sure what he should do. The rubber gloves were gone, most likely hiding somewhere in the shadows of the floor, dislodged by Drake's erratic movements. Even if he had them, he had no idea what to do without fresh iced gel packs which he didn't have, and yelling might attract the attention of people they hadn't let in on the little secret of Drake's presence here... but he wasn't sure it was safe to leave him to go for help...

Drake suddenly let out a little, strangled sound and stirred. He grabbed the sheet, which was all he still had covering him, and tore it off, then grasped the front of the gown they'd put on him and started jerking on it. It gave and came loose, the ends of the ties that had held it closed looking blackened. Drake panted and thrashed, his eyes still clenched tightly shut as he started ripping at his bandages, instinctively trying to free himself of all coverings to try to cool down.

"No! No, don't do that..." David said desperately, "You need those!" He tried to pull Drake's hand away from the bandage, but just got a hard shock for his trouble. The shock didn't hurt really... it was more like a jolt of power that poured through him like a rush of water, flowing out cleanly through his bare feet.

Drake ripped the bandage off the back of his neck, but then lost his grip on it as he suddenly went into a full fledged seizure. His flailing arm hit the side rail, and the rail unhooked, sliding down to the side.

Without even thinking, David tried to catch Drake as his wild thrashing sent him off the now open side of the bed. He caught him, but the instant his arms were around Drake power ripped through his body. The surge wiped all thought from his mind in an instant. It didn't even register than he'd crumpled to the ground, the clenched muscles of his arms pulling Drake right along with him.

David had never experienced anything like it. A wild torrent of power raged through his body. As with the first shock, it didn't hurt precisely... but there was a sensation in him he could only describe as feeling like he was drowning... and yet he didn't feel the urge to fight it. Somewhere deep in his mind there was a vague worry... a feeling that he should fight this off and try to free himself from the overpowering maelstrom of power that was surging through him... but for some unknown reason he did the opposite. He stopped struggling against it entirely and just gave in to it, giving it free reign. The rush of power smoothed out, flowing through him like silk once all resistance was gone. The power changed in that instant from frightening to almost pleasant... then definitely pleasant... after another moment it changing even more, sending little waves of pleasure through him. The pleasure escalated tantalizingly, but then started ebbing.

Without thinking, David reached up, pressing his hand to the now exposed contact point at the base of Drake's skull. The pleasure surged back, spiralling higher and higher until David let out a little, shuddering gasp as it broke over him.

David panted as he slowly came back down. Knowledge of his surroundings and the situation gradually returned to him. He could feel Drake laying on top of him, completely limp, his head resting on David's shoulder, his skin making David's clothes hot and damp where it pressed against him. Well, he wasn't having seizures any more, but once he realized he'd obviously channeled Drake's power he worried he'd done something terrible to him. Before, David had still felt tired and drained from fighting the demons that morning, but now he felt strong and full of power. He was horrified by the thought he might have taken magic from Drake like some kind of vampire! God! Had he hurt him? The contact against his hand barely trickled power... but he could feel Drake's heart beating strongly in his chest, and his breathing had evened out.

He knew he should get up, get Drake back on his bed if he could and get someone to check on Drake and fix his bandages and any damage the seizures might have caused... but a strong lethargy stole over him and he found his eyes drifting shut. He tried to convince himself he was just making sure Drake was stable before moving him, but...

...David woke as pressure was lifted off him. His hand slipped off Drake's neck as the man rose. David tried to make sense of what was happening with his groggy mind still struggling out of the haze of sleep. The lights were on and glaring down a little too brightly, making him squint. He saw movement and looked over. Dark leather shoes with pointed tips... dark blue slacks above those... his eyes darted up the figure and he realized he was looking up at Justin, who was levitating Drake up onto his bed.

David shivered as cool air replaced the heat of Drake's body. He struggled to rise.

"Careful." Justin said, his attention still on Drake, "Let me check you before you move. If the shock was enough to knock you out it might have done damage."

"I... I... I'm fine." David stammered, feeling utterly mortified. He glanced down, then quickly pulled his T-shirt down to hide the damp spot on his pants before Justin could see it. He quickly shifted up, then scootched back until he was leaned up against the stand they had next to Drake's bed. The handles of the drawers dug into his back a bit, but he didn't care. He shifted his knees up to be sure Justin couldn't see anything, his mind starting to race.

"What happened?" Justin asked when he was done settling Drake back on the bed and draping a sheet over his middle for modesty.

"I... I woke up and he was kind of... I don't know... thrashing around. I tried to hit the call button, but it fried. He started ripping off his clothes and bandages, then he started having a seizure and knocked the rail down. He started to fall off the bed... I... I tried to stop him... then..." David just shook his head, unable to make himself go on.

"I was just bringing in an emergency patient when the lights started flickering. I kind of figured it was him. I was planning on checking on him as soon as I was done checking my patient in anyway. Even with the gel packs his temperature has been rising steadily. It's all we can do just to slow it down a little. His condition is worsening at an alarming rate." He pulled on thick gloves and reached over, putting his hand on Drake's forehead, "Man is he's burning up!" He reached over, picking up a small, coin-like device that was on the edge of the bed and examining it. "Well, looks like my temperature monitor couldn't handle it either..." His eyes widened a bit when he got a look at the face of it, "He hit a hundred and six! No wonder he was seizing!"

Justin hurried over, fetching the bucket filled with freshly chilled gel packs he'd obviously dropped just inside the door when he'd seen them on the floor and came over, quickly starting to tuck the packs around Drake in a desperate attempt to get his temperature down. "We should really have him in an ice bath, but with his grounding problem it'd probably fry him." He grumbled in frustration. Justin looked down at David, noting he still hadn't moved... and the way he was carefully hiding his crotch didn't pass his notice. "Why don't you go get cleaned up while I check him over and try to get his temperature back down?" He offered gently, purposefully turning his attention to Drake so David could get up without him watching.

It was pretty apparent Justin thought he'd wet himself and was trying to be nice about it. David got up and scurried into the bathroom. As soon as he had the door closed behind him, he pressed his forehead to the wall, purposefully facing away from the mirror. For the second time, David found himself being falsely thought to have wet in his pants... the only difference is that this time he wished it really _was_ just pee.

He'd never been so utterly disgusted with himself! He hadn't really intended to do anything to Drake... but it almost made it worse that he'd done that without even thinking. What kind of a depraved sicko got off while sucking someone else's power out? What if he'd seriously weakened Drake and he died now? Could he even live with himself if that happened?

David pulled off the t-shirt and dropped it to the floor, but didn't bother with the pants or underwear as he climbed into the little shower and closed the sliding frosted glass door. He turned the water on, not even caring when the first blast of water was horribly frigid. He grabbed up the little bar of soap on the corner ledge and unwrapped the now soggy wrapper, then quickly pulled off his sodden pants and underwear. He put the soap to use and quickly scrubbed himself clean. In fact, he scrubbed until his skin felt a bit _overly_ clean, then grabbed up the articles of clothing one at a time and scrubbed them thoroughly until there was no trace left of the sticky mess he'd made in them.

Once he was done there wasn't much more than a little sliver of the soap left. He hung the clothes on one of the hand bars set around the perimeter of the shower, wishing he could wash away what he'd done that easily. All of the evidence might be gone, but he still couldn't shake the unclean feeling inside him. He couldn't help but feel like he'd practically molested a helpless man. He ducked his head under the rushing water and just let it run over him for a time, but it didn't really help.

There was a sudden knock at the door, then he heard it open.

"Hey, David, you ok in here?" Justin's voice called, muffled by the running water.

David quickly turned off the water. "Ya!" He called, "Be out in a minute."

"No problem, just leaving you some fresh clothes." He said, "I'll change your bandage for you once you're out."

David could see him blearily through the frosted glass as he set something on the sink counter, then quickly slipped back out. Once he was gone, David slid the glass door back open, grabbing the towel that was hanging on the towel bar and quickly starting to dry himself off. The bandage was a bit waterlogged and hung on him a bit, but the tape that held it in place was stubborn, so he just patted it dry to get it to stop dripping and called it good. He quickly pulled on the new underwear and pants and carried the T-shirt out with him, having to school his face carefully to try to keep from looking too guilty.

Justin was standing over by Drake's bed, checking him over. "Sit on your bed. I'll just be a minute." he said without turning.

David went over and sat down. He looked over at Drake silently as he waited. He didn't know what he'd expected... perhaps his skin to be pale and drained of color, as if he'd sucked his blood out. He didn't look pale though. He was a little on the flush side actually. Not almost red cheeked like he'd been before, but still a bit pink. The gel packs must be doing their job. His face was slack and almost peaceful... it looked like he was merely sleeping. Justin had his fingers on the pulse point on Drake's neck while he gazed down at his watch.

When he was done he just turned, pulling off the thick gloves and grabbing up a med kit from the chair and came over. He sat on the bed beside David and opened the kit up, pulling out what he'd need. David shifted around as requested and sat there silently as Justin's obviously experienced hands gently removed the sodden bandage and began cleaning the claw marks. The fake stitches kind of itched a bit really, but David didn't complain. Julie had told him they were a 'hard glamour' which would stand up to photography, which he took to mean they were pretty much real and solid, but could be magically dismissed. If only that worked on larger things, but apparently that type of glamour was strictly very small scale.

"Um... how... how is he doing?" David forced himself to ask as Justin dabbed on the antiseptic.

"To be honest, I had my doubts he'd see morning. Julie estimated he'd burn himself out by mid-day tomorrow, but I think she was just being overly optimistic." Justin replied honestly.

David's heartbeat doubled, his body tensing.

"I think you may have just saved his life." He added.

David's head whipped around. He stared at Justin's face, but he looked completely serious as he gave David a little smile.

"What?" David asked, unable to comprehend what he could possibly mean by that.

"His fever's broken. His temperature is dropping nicely, not even fighting the cold packs. His errant magic is almost gone as well." He taped the fresh bandage into place, then got up, going over to Drake's bed.

David followed, praying Justin wasn't just lying to make him feel better.

"Look at this..." Justin said, indicating Drake's right arm. It had been unwrapped. It had a spider web of an ugly dark bluish colored patterning over it, but it no longer reached his shoulder. "That discoloration is fading back. Nearest we can figure, it's something akin to blood poisoning. This arm was almost solid blue just two hours ago when I last checked it. Julie put a couple of the doctors on call in case we needed to amputate it. I mean just watch it for a minute. You can practically see it fading away right before your eyes. It's fading on his back as well."

"But what could I have possibly done that would make blood poisoning go away?" David asked, staring down at Drake at a complete loss.

"I think it's because that errant power obviously channeled through you. He's barely got any left. I think Julie's right. As weird as it seems, I think magical power really is like blood in a way... you can get bad blood in you, and the only way to get better is to either clean or remove the bad blood... or bad magic in this case."

"Why would Veronica's magic be bad?" David asked, looking over at Justin.

"Oh, I don't think it was Veronica's magic that's causing a problem. It must have been something in the silver she used. Silver that's exposed to a sorcerer for very long tends to absorb some of their power, even if it isn't a magic channelling charm."

"Oh man!" David sighed piteously, "Man oh man! It must have been the daggers! We used Horvath's daggers for the majority of the silver. They didn't look new, so he'd probably had them a while. Most likely they were on him when he went into the urn, so at the very least he'd had them on him for ten years or more. Actually, he went almost straight from the Grimhold to the urn, so they've probably been with him since before he was captured!"

Justin winced, "They were probably charged with his power... and from what I've heard, that can't be good! He sounds like quite an evil bastard!"

"And then some." David muttered. "Man... this is my fault! I'm the one who suggested using them in the first place!"

Justin quickly shook his head, "Don't beat yourself up about it! To _most_ sorcerers magic is magic. That Parasite spell Horvath used on Drake wouldn't even be possible if our bodies were normally so picky about the origins of the magic we're using. There's no way you could have known Drake was particularly sensitive to the subtle differences. It's extremely unusual for a sorcerer to be this sensitive to it. Some claim they can tell the difference, but I've never met anyone with an intolerance to a particular kind of magic. I mean look at you! The very same magic all passed through you, and you don't appear to be having any adverse effects from it. That's probably also why he's not grounded, come to think of it. His body has probably been trying to purge the bad magic since the silver got in him."

"So, is it gone now? The bad magic?" David asked with a hint of hope.

"I'm not sure... but somehow I doubt it." Justin said regretfully, "He's already starting to build a charge again. It's still pretty low, but it's slowly growing, just like before. The bad magic is probably slowly bleeding out of the silver and polluting his body. It should run out eventually, but if it was _that_ saturated with Horvath's magic, there's probably quite a bit more still in there. We'll just have to find a safe way to channel it out of him."

David bit his lip, then reached over, touching Drake's right arm. He shut his eyes as a little jolt hit him, but it was barely anything compared to what he'd felt before. It buzzed through him pleasantly, but luckily no more than that.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Justin asked in surprise when David slowly slipped his hand away.

David shook his head. "It's... um... it's... it's fine." He muttered, unwilling to elaborate more.

"Wow..." He said, staring at David incredulously, "You two must match!"

David's eyes darted over to him, "What?"

"Your magical... what? Wavelength? Frequency? Whatever you want to call it. Well, no two sorcerers match _exactly_, but some match closer than others. If his magic doesn't hurt you, your frequency must be pretty close. It hurt like a bitch when he shocked me!" He added with a grin, then he furrowed his brow thoughtfully, "A sorcerer's frequency is what also determines what magical channelling device matches them. I mean I doubt he'd be able to use _Merlin's ring_, otherwise Balthazar would have probably stumbled upon him long ago, not to mention he's probably too sensitive to use a channel that's even a little off. Then again, _you _are less sensitive, so _you_ could probably use _his_ channelling device. Well, if Horvath hadn't run off with it anyway."

Well, since Horvath had both of their channeling rings the possibility of them being interchangeable (to a point anyway) was pretty much moot, but David didn't really care about that at the moment anyway. "So..." David said slowly, trying to wrap his head around all of this and steer him back towards the topic that most concerned him at the moment, "Before, when he fell on me and his power... went through me..." He said, shifting a bit uneasily, "That... that didn't do anything to him? Bad, I mean? You're sure?"

"Are you kidding? You did more for his recovery in that few minutes than we've been able to do since he got here! If you can keep purging out the excess power until it lets up, he might just get through this."

David felt a dizzying wave of relief, but at the same time a swell of apprehension. Even if what he'd unintentionally done had ended up helping... he still couldn't help but be embarrassed it had happened in the first place.

"I'm sure Julie will be relieved when she finds out we have a way to help him now." Justin said happily as he examined the ends of the ties on Drake's gown. They looked like they'd been burnt through. "She might not much care for his rather flamboyant style, not to mention his questionable allegiances, but she's still a doctor. Not being able to heal someone agonizes her no matter who it is."

"Um... uh... um... do we have to tell her?" David sputtered.

Justin looked over at him, obviously mystified, "Um, I think she's going to notice if he doesn't die. Like I said, she's a doctor. They tend to notice the little stuff... like a _pulse_."

"No... no... not... I... I mean about _how_ he got that way. Do we have to... you know... tell her what happened?" He asked uneasily. God! How was he going to explain why this made him so uncomfortable without admitting _why_ it made him uncomfortable?

"Why should that be a secret?" Justin asked curiously.

David just made little indecisive sounds for several long moments, wracking his brain desperately for a plausible reason. "Um... I... well, I mean... your sister! She... uh... she doesn't like Drake." David said, grasping at straws, "And she barely knows me... so... I... well... I mean I wouldn't want her to think..."

Justin gave him a little smile. "I doubt she's going to think you're a loathsome little Morganian just because your magical frequency is close to his. Your frequency is how you were born, like genetics. It has nothing to do with your political allegiances."

"Well, well but you don't know that for sure. That... that she won't make a bad association between us, that is." David said hurriedly.

Justin rolled his eyes, but then sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you what... you just take care of him and unless it becomes _medically necessary_ no one else has to know how his 'spontaneous recovery' was brought about. Fair enough?"

"Yes, ya, definitely." David quickly agreed.

Justin smiled at him warmly and patted his good shoulder. "You should relax. You worry way too much. I know you're probably not used to being around other sorcerers and all, but we're just like regular people really. Besides, you've got an in. You're the Prime Merlinean! You just killed off Morgana! It's gonna take a lot more than suspicious vibes to make us start to wonder about you. Not to mention you're Balthazar's apprentice... so in a way you're practically family."

Despite David's worries, a little smile found its way onto his lips. Their family may be a little odd... and possibly a bit dysfunctional, but the idea of being a part of it actually sounded really appealing.

- 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 -

A/N – Well, hope you enjoyed it... and if you did, please review! :) By the way, I could really use a little help here. I've been trying to figure out the time period of the movie... anyone know? They were amazingly adept at showing that wolf calendar several times without ever letting you see what month it was on! From the snow in the picture I would say winter, but that covers most of the school year, and besides they might not have kept the pictures specific to the time of year. David was offering to help Becky with mid-terms, but from what I've been able to find that would be either late October if it was for first term, or like some time in February if it was second term. I'm thinking it would be first term, otherwise she'd be flunking out already if her brain doesn't think physics... but it looked like they were having Chinese New Year, which, assuming the year to be 2010, would have put the time period between February 14th and the 28th, which would have been kinda on the late side for an offer to help with midterms. Then again, it might have been some entirely unrelated festival. I really don't know what they look like. *deep sigh* I give up. Anyone have any idea? I really don't like just making stuff up with no real basis, so any help would be appreciated. Please send me a PM if you know. I don't want to, but if I can't figure it out I'm just going to have to take a shot in the dark and go with it!


	5. Morning

Chapter 5  
>Morning<p>

Morning came far too soon for David's liking. It seemed like he'd barely had time to close his eyes and then the room was full of light and the door was opening.

"These pictures should have been taken right after the incident!" A rather loud and irritated male voice was saying, accompanied by the sound of somewhat loud hard soled shoes walking into the room, followed by two sets of quieter shoes. "The attack was all over the morning paper. I'd rather get pictures of the wounds before I have to compete with the paparazzi! I'm not going to wait around all morning. Besides, the victim is comatose according to you, so I doubt I'm going to wake him!"

"Well it certainly wasn't this hospital that leaked news of the attack, and since the police were the only other ones who knew about it you can hardly blame _us_ for the newspaper stories! And as far as my patients, the _primary_ victim is comatose at the moment, yes." Julie's voice replied in a carefully calm tone, "But the other victim is not, and he needs his rest. It's only seven in the morning, which isn't even visiting hours yet, might I add."

"Well, I'm not a visitor, now am I?" He replied.

David blinked his eyes open, looking over in the direction of the voices. Julie and Justin were standing there with a tall, thin older looking man with short, grizzled gray hair. He had a slight English accent and was dressed in a somewhat old fashioned manner, reminding him uneasily of Horvath, but the man had a badge dangling from his belt and was holding a high tech looking digital camera, not to mention he had gotten this far, so hopefully that meant he was alright.

The man glanced over at him, "Ah. See, he's awake, so there's no problem. Can we get on with this now?"

Julie rolled her eyes in exasperation, but just sighed out a breath and waved him on.

"We should take care of David first since he's only got the one wound." Justin suggested.

"Very well." The man replied, heading for David.

David quickly sat up, then winced as his shoulder gave him a wicked ache. It hadn't really pained him much before, but he was beginning to suspect Balthazar had cast some kind of numbing spell on it or something. Obviously that was wearing off, because there was a bone deep ache in it at the moment. Either that or he'd just slept on it wrong.

"Careful, you're going to need some more meds soon." Julie said, noting the slight grimace on his face.

"It's fine." David muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed as he pulled off his shirt with Justin's help. After that he just turned a bit at Justin's prompting and let him remove the bandage. Once that was out of the way, Julie took over, gently swabbing the wounds with some rubbing alcohol to clean them. It stung the raw skin a bit, but wasn't too bad.

"Could you have him lay down on his stomach?" The man said as he dug in the small camera bag hanging at his side. "Most of the people I photograph are laying down as you can imagine, so that position works better for me."

"Hold up." Justin said quickly when he spotted the small metal ruler the man had just pulled out of his bag. "What are you planning on doing with that?"

"I use it to measure the wounds. I usually take some pictures with it beside them for scale. Haven't you ever seen one of those crime scene television shows?" The man drawled with a slightly condescending tone.

"Ya." Justin said, folding his arms over his chest, "I've seen those rulers in the pictures... laying on corpses, usually bloody ones at that."

The man rolled his eyes. "I washed it off."

Justin looked far from convinced, "That didn't come out of a sterile container. Even if you _did_ do more than rinse it off, it's been rattling around in your bag with Lord knows what since then."

"It's fine!" The man sighed, then he pulled out a handkerchief from one of his inner jacket pockets and gave it a good rub with it, "There, see? Freshly polished."

"Oh _Hell_ no!" Julie growled, obviously outraged, "These two young men have _fresh wounds!_ That one over there was ripped six ways from Sunday! He's just barely been able to fighting off a fever so bad I'm actually shocked he's still alive. There is no way in Hell I'm going to let your diseased ridden little corpse stick change that! If you want to use that thing on these boys you're going to have to do a Hell of a lot better than a spit-shine!"

"Oh this is ridiculous!" The man sighed in exasperation, "Just give me an alcohol swab or something and let's be done with this already!"

"A swab isn't going to cut it either. That has numbers and lines etched into it that could hold germs a swab couldn't get to. Come along. I'll show you to a scrub station." She said imperiously, heading for the door.

The man looked over to Justin, obviously in disbelief that she was being serious.

"I wouldn't keep her waiting if I were you." Justin muttered helpfully under his breath, nodding towards his sister's retreating back, "She has no patience with people trying to endanger her patient's health."

The man gave a belabored sigh and followed her.

Justin pretended to be examining the wounds, keeping a subtle eye on the door until the man was gone and there was no one in sight, then waved his hand at door, shutting it. "Glad I spotted that ruler." Justin said, moving over to Drake, "I was afraid I wouldn't find a reason to get you two alone for a few minutes. You need to fix him up quick."

David felt a flutter of embarrassment as he realized what Justin wanted him to do.

"Come on." Justin said encouragingly as David hesitated, "He hasn't worked up a dangerous charge yet, but it's enough for me to feel from a good foot away. That guy has a digital camera. This charge might be relatively low, but at close range it might be enough to mess up an electronic device like that. Not to mention if he gets close enough for the power to jump it'll probably fry the camera."

"Ya... ya... right." David muttered in resignation, nodding and getting up. He hurried over, then looked hesitantly down at Drake. He looked a bit odd in a plain, pale blue hospital gown, his multi-colored hair hanging limp, obviously having been matted down by sweat and lack of hair products. It was rather hard to reconcile the man he saw before him with the ostentation clothes horse he'd met before. Well, how he looked didn't really matter at the moment. At least he showed no signs of waking any time soon. That was bad, of course... but less embarrassing. He wished he could put it off, but he could see the necessity of it and that man might be back any minute.

"Here, I'll uncover some of the exposed silver. I'll be having to take the bandages off for the photos anyway." Justin said, looking around for the gloves.

"It's ok, I got it." David quickly muttered, "You just... um... go make sure they don't come back."

"You got it." Justin replied, heading over to the door.

David glanced over his shoulder to make sure the young man's attention was on what was outside the room, then took a deep breath and reached over, gently prying open the side of the bandage on the back of Drake's neck. Little crackles of power arched over to his fingers as he worked it open, tickling his skin. Not letting himself procrastinate, he gently slipped his fingers in as soon as he had the side of the bandage open.

The second his fingers touched the little silver contact near the base of Drake's skull he felt a sudden jolt of power go through him. It wasn't anywhere near the lightning bolt that'd gone through him earlier, but it was strong enough to speed up his heart and make his eyes slide shut as pleasure flowed through him. It was soft, the flow steady, but slow. Well compared to before anyway. It was like a sedate stream trickling through him... as opposed to a dam breaking and deluging him all at once like the first time.

He could feel Drake's heart against his other hand, beating reassuringly strong in his chest. David wasn't sure when he'd put his hand on Drake's chest or why, but that's where it was. The slight pulsing of his heartbeat and the gentle rise and fall of his chest seemed somehow in tune with the flow of power, though the power flowed smoothly and without any discernable tempo. It was just something David felt, but wasn't sure exactly why. David sensed something within Drake... but couldn't really think of any way to describe it or quantify it. It was like a melody... but without sound precisely... something he felt, but not in a way he could understand. It was like sensing something with a sense he'd never possessed before, something completely beyond his comprehension. Before he could dwell on it, the sense faded and disappeared as the last of the power ebbed out of Drake.

David opened his eyes and looked down at the man before him. There had been a slight tension in Drake's face before, but it had disappeared, leaving him looking peaceful once more.

"We should get the bandage off his arm." Justin said, turning his head from the crack in the door, "There aren't any easily discernible wounds to explain away why that arm needs bandaged." He gave the hallway one last look, then closed the door and hurried over. "We can't exactly say he has some kind of implant in the arm as well without any incisions in it."

"Right." David said, quickly moving his hand off Drake's chest before Justin got close enough to see. He found the end of the bandage and started unwrapping it. The arm it revealed was covered in tattoos, but unmarred by the ugly blue marks.

"Good, those marks are gone." Justin said, noting this as well. "We were a bit worried about how to explain those away. The marks didn't look like any naturally occurring symptom that either of us have ever seen." He took the bandage once David was done freeing it. "By the way, you don't really have to worry too much about infection." He added reassuringly, "Your wounds are sealed. As long as you take your antibiotics and keep the wounds covered you'll be fine. In fact, you won't even have to cover them in a couple of days once the skin isn't so raw."

"Well, that's reassuring. Thanks." David said, glancing at the ends of the cuts on his shoulder, barely within his range of vision. They looked a somewhat angry red, as he would expect, but they didn't feel nearly as bad as they should, really. He'd had significantly smaller cuts that'd felt much worse. The aching he could do without though.

"We _do_ have to be more careful with Stone, of course. We're not sure how well the skin is sealed around that protruding metal. It's not like it's something we've ever seen before. With luck it will seal up there as well, but until we're sure it's safe we'll be taking extra precautions with him. That's yet another reason I should save the rest of the unwrapping for when that guy gets back. As a matter of fact, I need to go get a couple of fresh sets of thick gloves for the little 'unveiling'. I have no doubt she's making a big deal about cleaning that ruler, so even if infection weren't a real concern we'd look pretty hypocritical if we used gloves that had just been laying around. And be sure to remember to favor that arm when he's around. Just keep it pretty still and don't extend it if possible."

"Oh, I don't think I'll be forgetting that." David said, rolling the shoulder in question gingerly and feeling it pull and ache. "Feels like that thing tried to cut through the bone!"

"It didn't score too deep. Didn't even hit the marrow, but it might ache for a while. Bone heals a bit slower than flesh, even with magic. Still, couple of days and you'll be fine." Justin reassured him.

David looked over at him, his eyes going wide. "It actually _cut into the bone?"_

"Not too much." Justin replied with a little shrug, wadding the bandage up and heading for the door. "Why don't you just sit back down and wait. I'm gonna go grab those gloves and once this guy is gone I'll be sure to numb your shoulder back up before I leave, alright?"

"Ya... sure..." David said softly, though the door was already drifting shut behind the fast paced young man.

David just stood there, staring sightlessly. It had scored the bone! How insanely easy would it have been for that thing to rip him apart? His hands started shaking again as it truly dawned on him for the first time how very close he'd come to dying. Yes, he'd known theoretically that he could have died, but saying that and actually _comprehending_ its reality were two entirely different things. When you're young, such thoughts were just hypothetical things. Even when death had touched his life, the thought that it could really happen to _him_... that everything, his entire existence could all just suddenly and with finality end had never really registered in his head... his body felt suddenly cold as full comprehension of his disturbingly fragile mortality crashed around him.

His eyes refocused as he gazed down at Drake. What would have happened if Drake hadn't knocked that thing off of him? Well, the answer to that was as simple as it was terrifyingly certain. There's no way on Earth he would have been able to fight both demons off. They would have torn him apart. Quite literally. Instead, Drake had interceded. He knew Drake wasn't naïve enough to think he stood any real chance of surviving a wrestling match with a demon, and with no magic no less! He'd had a split second to make a decision, and he'd chosen to sacrifice his own life to save David's.

"It can't come to that." David whispered, his eyes going rather blurry. He quickly closed his eyes, trying to deny the tears that crowded them. "You can't die. Not for me." He found his hand clutching Drake's arm. What if Drake's wounds got infected? He'd nearly died just a few hours ago, and had only been saved by a wild fluke. He might seem ok for the moment, but then he'd seemed fine just after Veronica first healed him... then he'd seemed fine after she'd mended his spine with that silver. Each time David had felt so sure they were out of the woods and Drake would just get up and walk away, good as new. Or good enough anyway. What would it be that popped up next to try to kill off the man who'd selflessly saved his life? "I don't want anyone to die for me." He muttered achingly. He felt tears dripping from his eyes and he knew it was stupid to be standing there talking to a guy in a coma and sobbing like a wimp, but he couldn't seem to stop the tears. "You have to keep getting better. You have to get through this. Just... just wake up already!" He said with growing frustration, blinking his eyes open. "Wake up and open your eyes and..." David's words caught in his throat as his vision cleared and he saw two dark eyes gazing up at him.

"Drake?" David said, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest.

Drake's eyes drifted back shut.

"No no no!" David said quickly. "Stay awake! Come on! Drake! Drake?" He said, fighting the urge to shake him. Drake's wounds had been quite grievous. Even with magic numbing spells, shaking him would undoubtedly cause pain, and that's the last thing he wanted to do.

"What's the matter?" Julie said suddenly from the door, hurrying over.

"He opened his eyes!" David said quickly. "It was just for a moment, but they were open, I swear!"

"I believe you." She said with a relieved smile, "You scared me!" She pulled a sealed bag out of her pocket and removed a fresh pair of gloves from it. She pulled them on, then carefully checked Drake, even prying open one of his eyes and playing a small light over it. There was an odd glint of silver as the light hit the eye, but the pupil almost instantly shot down practically to the size of a pinhole. From her expression, even Julie was surprised by the speed of the reaction... not to mention the fine spiderweb of silver filigree that now traced through his dark iris. She shifted the light away and watched the iris adjust slightly, but the pupil remained rather small. She put away the light and released his eye, which slid back shut. "Well, if he was awake, he's back out now. His eyes are reacting to light, which is good. Veronica said he was blind before the procedure. His eyes are registering visual stimulation, so it's just a matter of if the signal is getting from the eyes to the brain properly, but the odds are looking good that he will regain his sight." She glanced over, noticing David's anxious stare and the way he was trying to surreptitiously wipe away some tears. "It's ok. It's quite common for coma patients to drift in and out. That he's starting to stir is a very encouraging sign. You just have to have some patience." She said as she pulled off the gloves.

David just nodded his head mutely, though he didn't feel nearly as reassured as he pretended to be. He'd thought Drake was awake, damn it! He'd thought for one brief moment that it was finally over and he could stop worrying and...

"You're shaking." She said softly, taking his hand.

"I'm fine." He said quickly, pulling his hand out of her grasp.

"No, you're not. Let's get these photos taken and then I'm going to give you something for your nerves." She said firmly, nudging him back towards his own bed.

"No!" He said quickly, afraid that if she drug him he wouldn't be able to take care of Drake. "No... I... I mean I don't want to sleep again. Balthazar is coming, and..."

"Don't worry." Justin said soothingly, having slipped into the room without his noticing. Not that that was difficult with as focused as he'd been on Drake. "It'll just relax you. You might sleep some, but probably not more than a couple of hours or so, and we'll be able to wake you if we need to." He said, obviously implying if anything happened with Drake.

"Oh... um... ok then I guess..." David muttered softly. He knew he needed to calm down, but in truth he wasn't sure it was going to happen without medication.

"Might want to go ahead and medicate him now." The photographer said softly from a few paces away. "Wouldn't do to have blurry pictures because he was trembling like a leaf."

David might have been irritated by a comment like that, but it was said in an almost gentle voice. He glanced over and saw the slightly uncomfortable, but at the same time somewhat concerned look on the man's face. It was obvious the man really wasn't used to working with live people, and was finding working with someone in a delicate emotional state a bit disconcerting.

David just quickly nodded his head. He sat down on his bed and stared studiously down at his hands while Julie prepared the shot. When she pulled his arm over and started swabbing it with alcohol he clenched his eyes shut so she wouldn't have to bother trying to distract him. Not that it would have worked anyway now that she'd already done that once. He felt a little pressure, but once again it didn't hurt. He shifted around a bit at their direction to lay on his stomach. He felt the cold metal of the little ruler as it was laid on him, saw the slight strobe of the camera flash through his eyelids, but he was losing interest. Cold alcohol swabbed his wounds once more, then he was nudged around a bit as they gently placed a new bandage on him. A thin blanket was pulled up to cover him.

He heard the divider curtain moving and opened his eyes just in time to catch one last glimpse of Drake before it blocked his view. He vaguely noticed Justin as the young medic sat down on the bed beside him.

"He's going to be ok." Justin said softly, placing his hand over David's new bandage.

David let out a little sigh of relief as the low ache in his shoulder faded away. Once that was done, Justin nudged the blanket up to cover his shoulders as well, then shifted his hand over and gently stroked David's hair. "Julie won't let anything happen to Stone. You get some more rest now." He said soothingly.

David wasn't sure if Justin was using magic, or if his touch was just oddly reassuring. It reminded him of when his mother used to stroke his hair when he was upset. His eyes slid shut as he remembered it, a feeling of contentment settling over him.

- 0 – 0 – 0 -

David tossed his head to the other side, trying to ward off waking for a bit longer, but the low, tense voices outside in the hall were bothersome.

"I know very well what's at risk here." a female voice said a bit irritably. David groggily realized that it sounded like Julie.

"I'm not sure you do. If you did, you wouldn't be so stubborn about this." A voice growled back.

David blinked his eyes open, all thoughts of sleep fleeing as he recognized his Master's voice. The room was only dimly lit around him, which alarmed him for a moment, but a glance over at the window revealed they'd just shut the blinds and the drapes. Bright little slivers of sunlight showed here and there around the edges.

"I know all too well your 'get back up in the saddle' mentality, but he's not ready yet!" Julie hissed back.

"You act like it's a choice." Balthazar replied, "Sooner or later he's going to have to face what's waiting for him out there, and if he's going to have any chance of surviving, he's going to have to train!"

"I'm not refuting that, but whatever's coming, it's not coming right this second. Give him a little breathing room, a little time to deal with what's happened. It's obvious he's not used to life and death situations, and having to deal with two major ones within hours of each other is going to have some emotional repercussions. Especially if Stone doesn't stop being so damn stubborn." Her voice dropped a bit lower and David had to hold his breath to hear her, "He's starting to run a low grade fever again. There's no way he's going to survive a second bout if it gets nearly as bad it did last night."

David quickly and quietly pulled the blankets off and hurried over to Drake's bed. It was obvious he'd been out a lot longer than Justin had predicted. He vaguely remembered getting up and visiting the bathroom, but then he'd crawled right back into bed. He didn't fault Justin's math... he'd felt exhausted even before they gave him that shot, so he had no doubt he'd needed the sleep. He just hoped that neglecting Drake hadn't set his recovery back.

He was worried about the possibility of Drake's wounds getting infected if he went sticking his fingers in the bandages on a regular basis, so he decided to just try using his right arm. They hadn't rewrapped it yet, and with the silver running all through it because of the nerve damage he'd suffered in that arm, he could feel the power humming off it before he even got close.

As soon as he got a hold of the arm his grip locked as a jolt of power darted through him. It felt much more urgent than it had been when he'd done this before the photographer took pictures of him, but it was manageable. He wished it would hurry up a bit, though. The connection wasn't nearly as good through the arm as it was through the contacts along his spine, so the flow was almost sluggish, despite the strong need he felt in Drake to purge the power from his body.

"I know I'm the one who asked you to take him in the first place," Balthazar's voice said a bit impatiently, and David realized they were still out there arguing, "But maybe it would be best for everyone involved."

"You really think anyone else would take him?" Julie whispered back, "Despite the possible notoriety they'd get if he survived, no other hospital would touch him with a ten foot pole with some completely unknown implants in him and with as delicate as his health's been. They'd be too afraid he'd die and they'd have a very public black mark on their reputation, even if it wasn't their fault. I haven't even been able to get the x-rays taken that I need because I'm too afraid even that short of a trip would detriment his health!"

"Fine." Balthazar replied, "I guess I can't begrudge Stone what is most likely his best chance at surviving this in good conscience anyway. I'll just have to get David out of here."

He heard Julie let out a soft, exasperated sigh, "I'm telling you, David has far too much emotionally invested in Stone to be separated from him right now."

"David gets emotionally invested in anyone who's around him for very long. It's one of his strengths, but it's also an even bigger weakness. If there's any chance Stone is going to die, that's all the more reason to distance David from him before that happens."

David clenched his eyes shut, trying not to think on the possibility. He forced the thought away. No. Drake wasn't going to die, and he wasn't going to let Balthazar take him away 'for his own good'! He appreciated that Balthazar was worried about him and trying to protect him, but he wasn't a little kid, and he'd be damned if he was going to let someone else make his life decisions for him! Before he had a chance to lose his newfound resolve, he quickly turned towards the door, intent on telling Balthazar just that right to his face.

A hand grabbed his arm.

David spun around, his eyes darting down to the hand, then up to Drake's face. Even in the very dim light he could see that his eyes were open again!

Drake gasped, his face contorted into a grimace of pain. He shifted over onto his side a bit, curling in on himself. "What's wrong with me?" He gasped, his voice no more than a tight whisper filled with pain. He let go of David's hand and started clawing at the bandage on the back of his neck.

"What are you doing? Don't do that!" David said worriedly. He reached out to stop him, but Drake seized his hand once more and pulled it over, pressing it forcefully against the contact at the base of his skull.

Power lanced through David, the flow quick and clean.

Drake let out a soft moan of pleasure, closing his eyes, some of the tension easing from his face, though his grip on David's wrist never loosened. David felt a bit awkward doing this while Drake was awake, but the blissful flow of power distracted him for a few minutes until every last trace of it had been drawn out. Once it was gone, Drake's grip finally loosened and released him as Drake sagged back against the bed, sighing in relief.

"Drake?" David asked softly as he pulled his hand away. Drake didn't respond. "Drake?" he said a bit more urgently.

"Don't piss on my bonfire, mate." Drake muttered, eyes still closed.

"Excuse me?" David said, wondering if he was just muttering gibberish.

"Can't a bloke enjoy the afterglow for a mo?" Drake muttered. He cracked his eyes open when David didn't respond, "Don't try to tell me it wasn't good for you, too." He added with a little mischievous grin, glancing down at the definite tenting in David's pants.

David blushed bright red when he saw what Drake was indicating, quickly pulling his t-shirt down to help hide it. At least he hadn't made a mess in his pants this time, but that was small consolation in the face of being caught 'at attention'.

Drake didn't appear to be dwelling on David's predicament though. He started shifting around uncomfortably, then wedged himself up shakily into a sitting position. Once he'd mastered that, he started yanking on his bandages again.

"Don't do that! You need those bandages! You don't want to get your wounds infected!" David said worriedly, though he was still a bit too embarrassed to try to stop him.

"I feel like I'm bloody well suffocating!" Drake muttered in frustration. The bandages were much harder to remove further down where it widened to cover his whole back where the claw marks crossed. He yanked, but the bandages wouldn't budge any further.

"Um... why... why did you do that?" David asked softly, lifting his hand and flexing it a bit so Drake would know what he was referring to.

Drake looked at him for a long moment, then let go of the loose bandage . "Dunno." He admitted. "It's the only thing that makes the pain stop." He said in a slightly haunted voice, then forced a smile, making his voice cheerful once more, "Dunno how you do that magic touch, love, but it's priceless! Feel free to grope me any day!"

"Um... but how did you know that would work?" David muttered, perplexed.

Drake gave a slight shrug, then winced. He reached over, examining his previously injured arm, flexing the fingers, "Worked the last two times, now dinnit? It was pure Hell afore that. If I coulda moved I'd've snuffed meself just to make it stop!"

David blinked, stunned, "You... you remember that? But you weren't awake!"

Drake gave a little snort, "Jus 'cause I wasn't movin about doesn't mean I wasn't aware. How long's it been?"

David felt more than a little mortified, praying he hadn't really been aware of everything. He glanced around, spotting a clock. "Um... about a day and a half."

Drake looked over at him, his eyes widening, "Really? Is that all? Bloody 'ell, seems like it's been yonks. Where's Bob?"

"Um... Bob?" David asked uncertainly.

"Ya. Bob." Drake said, scrubbing his fingers through his hair, trying in vain to get it to perk up. "Kinda shorter bloke, bald, tattoos. Can't miss 'im. Surprised he innit 'ere." He said, looking around at the guest chairs for any sign that the man had visited.

"Oh..." David said, "Um... I'm not sure they notified anyone of where you were."

Drake's eyes darted over to him. "What?" He asked, obviously shocked and horrified, "He'll be straight round the twist by now, not knowing where I am!"

"Well, I think they were just trying to keep anyone from finding out you were here." David said reasonably. "From what the police photographer said this morning, the attack is all over the newspapers. If where you are leaked to the press..."

"So they know I was attacked an they don't even know I'm bloody well _alive?_ What kind of bloody barbarians are running this place?" Drake growled, obviously furious. He yanked off the covers and quickly got out of the bed.

David barely managed to grab him as his legs buckled the minute he put weight on them. "Julie!" David called out urgently, hoping she was still nearby. He lowered Drake to the floor, not strong enough to lift him up onto the bed.

There was a pause of barely a moment before the door whisked open and the lights were turned on.

Drake let out a pained cry as light flooded the room, quickly clenching his eyes shut and ducking his head down.

"You're awake!" Julie said, obviously please by that, though concerned over the way he was currently sitting on the floor, pressing his forearm to his eyes. "How are you feeling? Can you see?"

"Could see jus fine afor you went an turned the bloody spotlights on me!" Drake growled.

"Get the lights." She called back over her shoulder.

Vicky, who was standing just inside the door beside Balthazar, reached over, shutting the lights back off, then slipped quickly out of the room.

"Is that better?" Julie asked.

Drake cautiously lowered his arm and squinted his eyes open. "Still a mite bright, but livable." He muttered, rubbing his eyes.

She blinked in surprise. There was a little light coming in from the hallway through the partially open door, making the room just light enough to see things dimly, but it wasn't even light enough to see much more than his vague shape in the shadow of the bed. "Ok..." she said, adding some eye exams to her mental checklist of tests they would have to do now that he was awake. "How are you feeling?"

"It's early days." He muttered, "Legs are on the blink."

"Well, that was kind of expected." Julie said with a nod, "You'll need a bit of physical therapy to reteach your brain how to use your legs. You're using entirely new pathways, so it will just take a bit of getting used to. You appear to have the basic use of your arm, but I'll wager that will also require some work to get back the full use of your fine motor skills."

"But I will get it back, right?" Drake asked softly, wriggling his fingers again. They all moved, but the movement did seem a bit jerky.

"This is as new to me as it is to you, but we have no reason to believe you won't make a full recovery with time and patience." Julie reassured him. "But for now, perhaps you'd feel more comfortable on your bed?"

Drake sighed, then nodded. With David and Julie working together they got Drake back up on the bed easily enough.

"I need to see Bob straight away." Drake said the moment he was settled back on the bed.

"Who's Bob? Your publicist?" Julie asked.

Drake gave a little snort. "Manager, but 'e's me best mate first."

"Is he a sorcerer?" Julie asked shrewdly.

"'A course 'e is." Drake muttered, scrubbing his fingers through his limp hair. "All my people are. Well, the _important_ ones anyway. I dunno as they're _class_ sorcerers, mind you, since none of 'em got trained up formal like, but they've all got the _spark_ if ya know what I mean."

"I'm going to take a wild stab and guess they aren't exactly Merlineans." Julie ventured.

Drake gave a little amused snort. "Not exactly." He replied.

"Well, in that case, I'm afraid we're going to have to put off the reunion until you're fit to travel. I will send someone over to notify them of your condition, and if you can work a phone without frying it, you can call them. I would, however, prefer you didn't tell them where you are. It'd start getting pretty obvious where you are if a mob of your groupies started forming at the gate and..." She trailed off, noting that Drake didn't seem to be paying attention anymore. His head had shifted over towards the wall with the window. The lighting was dim, but it looked as if he seemed to be concentrating on something. The oddest part was that his eyes weren't trained on the window itself, but rather the wall several feet to the right of it.

"Drake?" David asked tentatively.

"Hmm?" Drake said distractedly, then his head shifted a bit, indicating he was paying attention again, though the direction of his gaze didn't change. "Oh... sure. Whatever, love. Don't bother. Jacob's almost here. They must've been searching for me."

Balthazar went over to the window and pulled open the edge of the shade a bit to peek outside.

"Bloody 'ell!" Drake snapped in a pained voice, jerking almost as if struck and clapping his hand over his eyes.

Balthazar realized his mistake and quickly replaced the shade. "Sorry." He said apologetically.

Vicky flitted back into the room and hurried up to the bed, offering a pair of very dark glasses to Drake.

They looked bulky and completely without his usual class, but the wrap around fit appeared more than adequate to block out light, so he took them and put them on anyway. "Thanks, Love." he said appreciatively.

Vicky beamed. "Those are some of the ones they give to people who've had their eyes dilated, so you shouldn't have any more problems with the light." She said quickly, her barely contained excitement rather obvious. "You're awesome!" She let out in a little, excited voice that bordered on a squeal, bouncing a bit on her toes.

He treated her to a warm smile. "It's nice to see not everyone 'ere hates me."

"Jacob?" Balthazar prompted, obviously hoping Drake would elaborate.

"One of the birds named 'im that on a bit of a lark. I'm not a fan meself, mind you, but it seems to suit 'im, so..." He finished with a shrug, followed by a slight grimace. He rolled his shoulders a bit, then winced and desisted.

"Who exactly is 'Jacob', and how can he track you?" Julie asked with concern, folding her arms over her chest.

"Never you mind, love." Drake replied with a little smile, "Just mind you stay outta 'is way."

They turned and looked towards the door as a startled shriek sounded somewhere in the building. Drake's grin widened as the screams came closer, accompanied by the sounds of things crashing to the ground and people scrambling out of the way.

"Just what did you set loose in my hospital?" Julie asked fearfully.

Drake chuckled softly, "The question is, what did _you_ set loose? You _really_ should have told 'em where I was." He looked over, seeming to track something through the wall, "Atta boy, Jacob." Drake purred expectantly, "Come to daddy."

- 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 -

A/N – I know, short and a little bit of a cliffy, but I've had most of this sitting around for ages, and I just wanted to give you an update. Not to mention I wanted to wipe the page clean and start fresh in hopes that it would help get the muse going, you know? Anyhow, please review.


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